Olson, Graff-Rowe Lead Saints Past Raiders

JB Olson turned in 7 solid innings on the mound and Justin Graff-Rowe had a career high 4 hits as the Seward County Saints blew past former Saint Coty Cooper and the Rose State Raiders 12-4 Saturday afternoon in Liberal. 

The Saints got on the board early, scoring four times in the bottom half of the 2^nd inning.  Seward got an RBI groundout from Logan Nethercot and a two RBI double from Nic Ricigliano to get the scoring started and Alex White picked up a two out RBI single to put the Saints up 4-0. 

Seward starter JB Olson scattered four hits through the first four innings, keeping the Raiders at bay and the Saints up 4-0. 

Rose State finally broke through against Olson in the 5^th, using three straight singles on consecutive pitches to plate a run and cut the Seward advantage to 4-1. 

The Saints struck right back and Dillon Drury hit a sac fly to center to score Brent Williams who walked to start the bottom of the 5^th and Ricigliano came up big again with two outs, this time with an RBI single to stretch the Saints lead out to 6-1. 

It remained that way until stretch time and in the bottom of the 7^th the Saints picked up two quick runs as Drury tripled home a run and then scored himself on a Rose State balk to make it an 8-1 contest. 

Rose made things interesting again in the 8^th after Olson exited the game, scoring three times in the inning to cut the Saints lead back to 8-4. 

It wouldn't be close for long tough as Seward opened things back up in the bottom of the frame, getting a sac fly from Alex White to score Brandon Urquizo who tripled, followed by a two RBI triple from GJustin Graff-Rowe and a sac fly from Drury to make it a 12-4 contest. 

Thomas Garland did the rest for the Saints, sidewinding through the middle of the Raider order in the 9^th, striking out the side to give the Saints a 12-4 victory. 

The two teams combined for 27 hits in the contest, 15 for Seward and 12 for Rose State.  The Saints got a 4 hit effort from Graff-Rowe and 2 hits and 3 RBI's from both Drury and Ricigliano in the win.  Olson earned his 5^th win of the season, going 7 innings and dispersing 8 hits while striking out 5. 

SEWARD COUNTY/ROSE STATE GAME ONE BOX SCORE

The Saints improve to 14-17 on the year with the wins while Rose State drops back to 8-11 with their 10^th loss in their past 12 games. 

The two teams will lace them up again on Sunday at Brent Gould Field, this time taking in doubleheader action starting at noon.