Saints/Cavs Trade Blowouts to Force Deciding Game Three

In the marquee matchup of the Region VI Tournament first round, the #5 seed from the Jayhawk West, the Seward County Saints, made the long trip to Overland Park to take on the #4 seed from the Jayhawk East, the Johnson County Cavaliers.  In game one the Saints gave their ace Jakob Hernandez plenty of support early on and the southpaw did the rest in a 13-5 Seward victory.  In game two the Cavaliers took their frustrations out on Saints pitching, grabbing an early lead and scoring eight times against the Seward bullpen in the final two innings to run rule the Saints 15-5 in seven to set up a winner take all game three on Sunday morning. 

On paper the Saints looked to have had a tough matchup Saturday as they opposed undefeated and reigning Jayhawk Conference Pitcher of the Week Jake Barton.  That couldn't have rung less true as the Saints chased Barton from the game just six hitters into the game with the score already 3-0.  Seward got two more in the 1^st and before Johnson County had a chance to take their first at bats. 

Saints ace Jakob Hernandez was as advertised early Saturday, adding three to his national strikeout lead as he fanned the side in the 1^st to keep Seward in front 5-0 after one. 

Hernandez worked another 1-2-3 inning in the Johnson 3^rd to keep Seward out in front 5-0 into the 4^th. 

Seward threw another crooked number on the board in the 4^th, getting an RBI triple from Chad Kennedy and an RBI single from Errett Edwards to follow that to extend their lead to 7-0.  They weren't done there though, loading the bases later in the inning and getting a long sacrifice fly to center field to plate their third run of the frame to open up their advantage to 8-0.

Hernandez remained sharp for the Saints, working around two out Cavalier hits in both the 4^th and 5^th frames to keep Johnson off the board and the Saints on to 8-0. 

The Saints blew the game wide open in the 6^th, getting an RBI single from Antonio Dorado, a two run double from Jared Ledbetter, and a Johnson County error to blow the game open at 12-0. 

It remained 12-0 to stretch time when the Saints had a chance to close things out in a run rule in the bottom half of the 7^th.  That looked likely to happen as the Cavs were down to their last out with just one runner on, but back to back walks loaded the bases and a double to the gap unloaded them, keeping Johnson County alive at 12-3.  A walk spelled the end of Hernandez's day but the Saints didn't get much relief as they went to the bullpen with back to back walks to force home a run to make it a 12-4 contest. 

A solo home run from Kennedy in the top of the 8^th pushed Seward's lead back to nine at 13-4 but the Cavs answered with a solo shot of their own in the bottom half to make it 13-5. 

Saints reliever Dylan Paul did the rest for Seward, working out of trouble in both the 8^th and 9^th innings, leaving two runners on base in each frame to close out the 13-5 win for the Saints in the opener. 

The Saints dominated every category of the stat sheet in the win, outhitting Johnson 15-6 and striking out 15 Cav hitters on the afternoon.  Five different Saints had multiple hits in the win including Kennedy who was 3 for 5 with a pair of RBI's, missing hitting for the cycle by just a double. Graff-Rowe also had three hits while Edwards, Judah Sweat, and Josh Nicol each had two hits and an RBI for Seward.  Hernandez earned his league leading 10^th win of the season by going 6 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and four runs while striking out 10.  Paul closed out the final 2 1/3 innings for Seward, allowing just two hits while striking out five to preserve the win. 

SEWARD COUNTY/JOHNSON COUNTY GAME ONE BOX SCORE

Game two had quite the opposite start for the Saints who fell behind right away in the 1^st after four consecutive two out singles by the Cavaliers plated three runs to give Johnson County the early 3-0 lead. 

The Saints got a run back in the 2^nd on a solo home run from Jared Biddy to make it 3-1 and then got a two run bomb off the bat of Graff-Rowe in the 3^rd to tie the game up at three. 

But just as soon as Seward got back into things, Johnson County took control once again with a big swing of the bat in the bottom of the 3^rd good for a three run home run to put them back on top 6-3. 

Seward had a chance to get right back in it in the 4^th, putting runners on second and third with nobody out, but three straight unproductive outs ended the threat and kept them trailing 6-3. 

The Saints once again put two on in the 5^th, bringing the tying run to the plate, but as they did an inning earlier, they left both runners on and continued to trail the Cavs by three, 6-3. 

Johnson tacked on a run in the 5^th to make it 7-3, but the Saints answered with two in their next trip to the plate, getting an RBI double from Jared Ledbetter and an RBI single from Graff-Rowe to score him to slice the Cav lead down to just two at 7-5.

Seward went to the bullpen in the 6^th and as has rung true most of the season, things didn't go so well for the Saints.  Without swinging the bat, the Cavs had the bases loaded with nobody out in the inning after a walk and two mishandled bunts by the Seward defense.  A ground ball scored one run to make it 8-5 before Johnson's second three run bomb of the game quickly stretched the Cav advantage to 11-5. 

It didn't get any better for the Saints in the 7^th as all seven Johnson County hitters to come to the plate in the inning reached, plating four runs and effectively ending the game immediately in a 15-5 run rule. 

The two teams combined for 27 hits in the contest, 14 for Johnson and 13 for Seward.  The Saints had the games' only four errors, leading to six unearned Cavalier runs while Johnson played the game clean on defense. Dorado and Kennedy each had three hits in the loss for Seward while Graff-Rowe did the big damage in the Saints lineup with two hits and three RBI's.  Seward starter Adam Keller was collared with the loss, allowing nine hits and seven runs in just five innings of work to fall to 6-3 on the year.  Brian Tims came in out of the Seward bullpen to allow eight runs, three earned in just 1 1/3 innings. 

SEWARD COUNTY/JOHNSON COUNTY GAME TWO BOX SCORE

Seward goes to 31-25 with the split while Johnson's season record pushes to 41-17.

The two teams will hook up one more time Sunday morning at 11 with one team advancing to the Region VI Championships next week and the other packing their bags and calling it a season.