Saints Hammer Highland to Advance to Wichita
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Highland Community College - Kansas | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 14 | 0 |
|
Seward County Community College | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 18 | 19 | 3 |
Behind the left arm of freshman Jakob Hernandez and the big bat of sophomore Dillon Drury, the Seward County Saints hammered visiting Highland 18-7 Sunday in a winner take all game three of their Region VI Tournament 1st Round series to advance to the tournament championships next weekend in Wichita.
After dropping game one of the series and coming back to win game two on Saturday to force a deciding game three on Sunday, the Seward County Saints didn't get off to the best start in that winner take all game three Sunday, falling behind 2-0 right off the bat after a mammoth home run from Highland in the 1st inning put them behind 2-0 right off the bat.
Seward answered with a run in the bottom of the 1st as Brandon Urquizo tripled with one out and scored on a sacrifice fly from Brandon Rix, but the Saints still trailed 2-1 after an inning of action.
Highland added to their lead in the 2nd and chased Seward starter Brent Bezio from the game, scoring three times in the inning to build their advantage up to 5-1.
Jakob Hernandez came in out of the Saints bullpen and calmed the storm, striking out six straight Scotty hitters to keep it a 5-1 game through 4 ½.
Seward responded in a big way in the bottom of the 4th, getting a two run home run from Dillon Drury to get them to within two at 5-3 followed by an RBI single from Josh Nicol to make it a one run game at 5-4. Still with nobody out in the inning, the Saints loaded the bases as they rolled over their lineup to leadoff man Alex White and the Seward shortstop made the most of the run scoring opportunity, lining a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence for a grand slam to give Seward their first lead of the day at 8-5.
An error cost the Saints a run in the top of the 5th to make it an 8-6 game, but Seward responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning to stretch their lead back to three at 9-6.
After two quick outs in their half of the 6th, the Saints continued to swing the bats well. Three straight singles and an RBI knock from Logan Nethercot gave them their 10th run of the game and a bloop single from Antonio Dorado added another run to make it an 11-6 contest.
Hernandez pitched into the 7th before giving way to Grant Glaze, who came in and picked up a big strikeout followed by a double play ball to get out of a bases loaded jam to keep the score 11-6.
The Saints added two more runs in the bottom of the 7th on RBI singles from Graff-Rowe and Nethercot while Highland got three straight two out singles in the top of the 8th to make it a 13-7 game.
With two outs in the bottom of the 8th, the Saints kept plugging away, getting an RBI single from Rix to make it 14-7 and an RBI double from Graff-Rowe to score another run to make it 15-7. Then, after two quick strikes on Drury, the Seward first baseman unloaded on a pitch to deep center field and the Saints watched patiently until finally it cleared the wall for a three run shot and then they exploded as Seward walked the Scotties off with an 18-7 run rule win.
The stat sheet was a pretty one for Seward in the win who racked up 19 hits in the contest against Scotty pitching. Seven of nine Seward starters had multiple hits in the victory. Drury led the way, going 3 for 5 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI's while Rix and Nethercot each had 2 hits and 2 RBI's for the Saints. Graff-Rowe was 3 for 4 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI's while Dorado and Nicol each had 3 hits as well. Hernandez was the story on the mound for Seward, setting a school record with 10 strikeouts out of the Saints bullpen. The southpaw went 4 2/3 innings, allowing 3 hits and just 1 unearned run while punching out 10 Scotty hitters to improve to 3-1 on the year. Glaze pitched 2 innings to close it out, earning his team leading 3rd save of the campaign. He allowed 3 hits and 1 run while striking out a pair to nail down the win.
SEWARD COUNTY/HIGHLAND GAME THREE BOX SCORE
Seward fights off back to back season ending elimination games to advance to Wichita with the wins. The Saints are now 34-22 overall while Highland ends their year at 15-38.
The top seeded Saints will now enter the Region VI Championships with a berth to the Junior College World Series on the line in the eight team tournament. Seward will take on Coffeyville Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals with a game time yet to be announced by the league.