Seward Salvages Just One Against Garden

After dropping both games of a doubleheader on Friday with Jayhawk West rival Garden City, Seward's Brent Bezio pitched a gem to give them the opening game of their twinbill with the Busters 5-1 on Saturday to give them a chance to split the series.  But in the series finale it was more of what has caused the Saints struggles so far this season as their offense went quiet as the Busters finished them off with a 9-1 win to take the series 3-1. 

Early on in game three it was a story of pitchers working out of jams as Seward's Brent Bezio saw Garden City runners on second base in each of the first three frames, while the Busters starter Tony Yacovetta pitched around three Seward hits in the first three innings to keep the game scoreless through three. 

With Seward's bats still cold in the 4^th, Garden City took advantage, getting a leadoff walk and a two out hit to push across the game's first run to take a 1-0 lead. 

The Saints couldn't answer in the 5^th, going down in order, but Bezio kept the Busters from extending their lead in the bottom of the inning to keep it a 1-0 game into the 6^th. 

Seward finally broke through in the top half of the 6^th, using a leadoff single from Alex White and a pair of one out walks to load the bases with one out.  Logan Nethercot lifted a sac fly to centerfield to score White from third and just like that the game was knotted at 1. 

Bezio rose to the occasion in the bottom half of the frame, keeping the score tied as he blew through the Buster order on just 10 pitches in the 6^th to give Seward another chance to grab a lead in the 7^th and final inning. 

The Saints did just that, getting some help from their longtime rivals as Garden City pitching walked back to back hitters with two outs in the inning, loading the bases and then forcing a run home to gift Seward a 2-1 lead.  The Saints weren't done there as third year sophomore third baseman Brandon Rix came up big for the guys in green as he lined the first pitch he saw into the gap, clearing the bases and blowing the game open to 5-1. 

Garden put some pressure on the Saints in their final at bats of the game, getting two straight singles to begin the inning to roll over their lineup, but Bezio came up big again, getting a groundout and then a double play to end the threat and wrap up the 5-1 win for the Saints. 

Garden City actually outhit the Saints in the game 7-6, but the Busters also left 7 runners on in the loss while Seward left 6.  Bezio was the story for Seward, tossing his first career complete game, allowing the 7 hits and 1 run while striking out 6 Garden City batters to earn his first career victory on the mound.  White finished as the only Seward player with multiple hits in the game for the Saints while Rix finished 1 for 3 with 3 RBI's. 

SEWARD COUNTY/GARDEN CITY GAME THREE BOX SCORE

Just when it looked like the Saints had gained some momentum back in the series, they immediately fell behind big in the series finale in game four.  Garden City wasted no time in jumping out to a 5-0 lead with a run in the 2^nd, three more in the 3^rd, and one in the 4^th to take the commanding lead. 

It wasn't that the Saints didn't have chances on the offensive end, but they couldn't come up big when it counted most.  They loaded the bases with two hits and a Garden City error in the 1^st, but struck out to end the inning and then put two more on in the 3^rd when again a strikeout ended the frame. 

The Saints scored their first run of the game in the top half of the 6^th when Dillon Drury lifted off on his first home run as a Saint, but that was all Seward would get as they remained down 5-1.

The Busters quickly got the run back, using a leadoff walk and a two out single to push their lead back to five at 6-1 and Garden put the game away in the bottom half of the 7^th, benefitting from three Seward errors to score three times and blow the game open to 9-1. 

That was it for the Saints as Garden finished them off 9-1 to win the series 3-1. 

The Saints were outhit 13-5 in the game and left 9 runners on base in the loss.  No Seward player had more than one hit in the game and Saints hitters struck out 11 times in the defeat.  Seward committed 3 errors in the game, allowing in 3 unearned runs.  Grant Glaze was saddled with the loss for the Saints on the mound, falling to 0-3 on the year as he lasted just 2 2/3 innings in the start, allowing 5 hits and 4 runs. 

SEWARD COUNTY/GARDEN CITY GAME FOUR BOX SCORE

Seward drops to a disappointing 6-11 on the year with the series loss, falling to 2-4 in Jayhawk West Conference play.  Garden City moves to 13-3 overall on the season and leads the Jayhawk West with a 5-1 record thus far.

The Saints will look to get back on track Tuesday when they wrap up their conference series with Dodge City at Brent Gould Field with a doubleheader beginning at 3:00 in Liberal.