Saints Dominate in Opening Day Win

Saints Dominate in Opening Day Win

LIBERAL, Kan. – Seward County baseball (1-0) started off the season with hot bats on Saturday (Jan. 27) defeating McCook 14-2 at Brent Gould Field.

Sophomore Ethan Earhart (1-0) picked up the win following a 3.0 inning effort where he gave up two hits, one run and struck out seven Indians. Tanner King and Ryan Thomas came in to relieve Earhart, combining for five hits, one run and six strikeouts over six innings.

Redshirt Freshman Braxton Allen drove in a game-high five RBI and came up a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. Freshmen Spencer Sackett (2 RBI), Cruz Shope (2 RBI) and Jose Navarro (2 RBI) all drove in multiple RBI, while Cole Bergdall brought one run across the plate.

The game couldn't have started better for Earhart, as all three batters struck out swinging. In the bottom of the second a walk by Allen and a double by Paul set up runners in scoring position for Sackett.  Sackett took advantage of the situation, hitting a double to left field to bring home both runners to put Seward up 2-0.

Seward continued their scoring into the second inning.  Allen hit a 2 RBI double into the left field gap to bring home Navarro and Brendan Madsen, who both reached on singles. The runs put the Saints up 4-0.

The Indians (0-1) got on the board in the third inning.  A walk and a single put a runner in scoring position for Angel Mojica, who singled to center field to drive home Tanner Zeggil and put the score at 4-1.

The Saints answered with a three-run inning in the bottom of the third. A broken-down chase-down following a wild-pitch allowed Sackett to reach home.  Navarro singled two pitches later to drive in Ben Tsui, before another error allowed Navarro to score, extending the Saints lead to 7-1.

Scoring had to wait until the 7th to pick up again when Allen singled to right field to drive in Tsui and Bergdall.  Tsui was hit by a pitch and Bergdall singled, before Madsen singled to put Tsui and Bergdall in scoring position, pushing the lead to 9-1. 

The Indians put up one more point in the top of the 8th with a Mojica single driving in Jason Hill, but a four-run explosion in the bottom of the eight prevented any thought of a rally. Shope drove in two runs with a double to right field, putting the Saints up 11-1.  Shope reached home a few pitches later following a Navarro double before Bergdall brought Navarro home with a single.  Madsen reached on a fielder's choice, before advancing to home on a triple by Allen to bring the game to 14-2.

The Saints combined for 18 hits on the day and ended with a .429 team batting average.

Seward will travel to Justin, Texas next weekend for a four-game series against Galveston College on Friday (Feb. 2), Saturday (Feb 3) and Sunday (Feb. 4).