Midland Gets By Saints Twice

It was a tale of two games for the Seward County Saints Sunday in Midland, both of which turned out in losses for the guys in green.  In game one Keenan Hall threw a gem for Seward, allowing just one run through six innings of work, but it was a rare inside the park home run on a wild play which did the Saints in in a 2-1 loss.  In game two it was all Midland as the Chaps took an 11-1 lead after just three innings before the Saints finally showed some life to make it a game late, but Midland still went on to win 17-10 to sweep the double header. 

The Saints got off to a rocky start in game one of the twinbill, going down in order in the top half of the 1^st and committing a two out error to allow Midland to score one in the bottom half of the inning to take a 1-0 lead. 

Seward starter Keenan Hall picked his defense up in the 2^nd inning as the Saints made their second error in as many innings, but Hall stranded two to keep it a 1-0 game in favor of Midland. 

The Saints showed their first sign of life on the offensive end in the 3^rd when Brandon Rix was hit by a pitch and Jake Fuller singled with one out for the middle of the Seward order, but the Saints couldn't make anything of it and remained down 1-0 after 3.

Hall and Midland starter Jayden O'Dell continued to duel as both threw up zeros in the 4^th and 5^th innings to keep it a 1-0 game going to the 6^th. 

The Saints finally broke through in the 6^th against O'Dell, getting a two out walk to Kevin Connolly, who then stole second and later scored on a single from Reed Thompson to tie the game at 1. 

Midland struck right back though and as Saints left fielder Jordan Leinweber crashed into the wall trying to make a play on a deep fly ball, the ball caromed off the wall and into no man's land.    As the Saints scrambled to get the ball back in, Midland's Brent Stewart raced around the bases for one of the rarest plays in baseball, an inside the park home run, to give the Chaps a 2-1 lead. 

Seward managed to put the tying run on in the 7^th as Bryson Allen singled with two outs, but that was it for the Saints in the inning as O'Dell slammed the door to give Midland the 2-1 win. 

The Saints put together just 4 hits in the game, 2 of those coming from Fuller.  Hall was tagged with the tough luck loss, going all the way for the Saints on the mound, allowing 6 hits and just 1 earned run while striking out 4. 

SEWARD COUNTY/MIDLAND GAME ONE BOX SCORE

In game two the Saints matched their offensive production from game one in just three batters as Allen doubled with one out and Brent Williams followed him with a double to give Seward an early 1-0 lead. 

The lead didn't last long though.  Two Seward errors mixed in with a pair of Midland hits gave the Chaps their first run of the game to tie things at 1 in the 2^nd. 

Midland blew the game open in the bottom of the 3^rd, hammering out six hits including a bases loaded double and a two run home run to take a 7-1 lead at innings end. 

It was more carnage against the Saints pitching staff in the 4^th as once again Midland held nothing back, using a Seward error and a bases loaded double to score four times to open their lead up to 11-1. 

Tanner Thompson walked to start the Seward 5^th and with two outs Allen launched a two run home run to get the Saints back to within 11-3, but back to back triples followed by a double plated four runs for Midland in the bottom of the inning to make it 15-3. 

After Midland scored twice more in the 6^th to make it 17-3, the Saints finally showed some fight. 

Blake Estep, Thompson, and pinch hitter John Solberg all singled to start the inning and score a run and a sacrifice fly pushed Seward's second run of the inning across to make it 17-5.  A walk and two more RBI singles from Hudson Bilodeau and Kevin Connolly made it 17-7 and later in the inning Bilodeau scored on a passed ball to make it 17-8. 

Saints reliever Rowdy Sheets held the game there and the Saints got an RBI single from Allen in the 8^th and an RBI double from Reed Thompson in the 9^th, but it was far too little too late as Seward fell 17-10. 

Seward actually ended up with 16 hits in the game, including hits from 12 different players.  Allen led the Saints charge with a 3 for 4 game with 3 RBI's.  Seward's center fielder missed hitting for the cycle by just a triple in the game.  Connolly and Solberg both finished with 2 hits and an RBI in the loss as well.  Seward used five pitchers in the game with Sheets being the only effective one for the Saints.  He went 2 1/3 innings without allowing a hit or a run for Seward while Derrick Valenzuela was hit with the loss, giving up 7 runs on 8 hits in just 2 2/3 innings of work. 

SEWARD COUNTY/MIDLAND GAME TWO BOX SCORE

The Saints fell to 8-7 after being swept while Midland improved to 8-4 on the year.  The Saints wrapped up their trip South with a game against New Mexico Junior College on Monday.