Conventional wisdom says that it's better to be the home team in baseball.

But in Sunday's final of the Mike Peterson Baseball Tournament at Sherman Field, Pinnacle Bank made the most out of being the visitor. Pinnacle, made up of players from Lincoln Southwest, scored seven runs in the top of the first inning and then held on for a 15-7 victory over Union Bank (Lincoln Pius X) in five innings.

It is believed to be the first all-Lincoln final in the tournament since 1983, when East defeated Pius X.

"Being the visiting team proved to be an advantage for us and it might have been for them," said Pinnacle coach Doug Kaltenberger. "This is a long tournament and we are all out of pitching at this point."

Particularly because both teams had to complete games Sunday morning that were interrupted Friday night by rain. Union Bank rallied in the seventh to beat North Platte 11-8 to advance to the semifinals, where it beat Millard West 7-2.

Pinnacle Bank needed just three more innings to beat Anoka, Minn., 11-0. Vince Flynn, Rylan Cotton and Ryan Haas combined for a no-hitter that sent Pinnacle to the semifinals, where it beat Millard South 6-1.

"That's three games in one day. That's 15 innings, but you have to do all the things you do to prepare for three games, whether they're five innings or not," said Kaltenberger.

Pinnacle scored six of its seven runs in the first inning with two outs. Dain Sudik led off with a double and, after a sacrifice by Flynn, scored on a single by Adam Lavelle. He was caught stealing, but Mark Korsakas followed with a single, and then Tanner Lubach had an RBI double and Taylor Anderson hit a run-scoring triple. After Dustin Bloch walked, Cotton doubled in two runs. After Haas singled, Sudik had a two-run triple before Union Bank got out of the inning.

"When you score six runs with two outs, you have a feeling," said Sudik, who finished the game with four hits and four RBIs. "You come into a game with an approach and know what you want to do.

"It's great to win this tournament because this is the big tournament before state."

Troy Charf, the Union Bank coach, said he was pleased with his team's performance in the tournament.

"This is a state-tournament type of situation. You play six games in three days and a lot of kids got called on and came through," said Charf. "Andy Crouch gave us a great performance against Millard West that got us into the final.

"We just ran into a team that was really, really hot with the sticks. There were no easy outs to be had and we were chasing balls off the walls."

Pinnacle Bank finished the game with nine extra-base hits. Lubach had two doubles and a triple, Lavelle had a double and Korsakas had a two-run home run.

"After we scored seven in the first, our coaches were telling the guys that it wasn't over because Pius is a good hitting team," said Kaltenberger. "It does take 15 runs to beat Pius."

Taylor Landwehr doubled, scored and drove in two runs for Union Bank. Alex Jones and Dylan Oberembt both doubled in runs, and Ben Raun hit a solo home run.

Reach Ryly Jane Hambleton at 473-7314 or rhambleton@journalstar.com.