Posted: Mar 18, 2014
Walk Off Seals the Series for Seward Over Garden
Garden City Community College
(0-0)
9
Seward County Community College
(16-11, 8-6)
5
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Garden City Community College | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 3 |
|
Seward County Community College | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 2 |
Garden City Community College
(0-0)
5
Seward County Community College
(17-11)
6
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Garden City Community College | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
|
Seward County Community College | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 5 |
The Seward County Saints picked up their fourth straight series win over rival Garden City Monday afternoon at Brent Gould Field in Liberal. In the first game of the day the Saints were stunned late as Garden City scored four in extra innings to take the game 9-5 in 8 innings. In the series finale the Saints turned the tables on the Busters, getting a 7th inning home run from Jake Fuller and a walk off single from Jordan Leinweber to steal the game 6-5 and win the series 3-1.
After a pair of dominating pitching performances on day one of the series to take a 2-0 lead against rival Garden City, Seward starter Pete Macke picked things up right there on day two of the set, holding the Busters without a run through the first three innings of game three to give his Saints a chance to strike first.
The Saints let a scoring chance pass in the 2nd after putting two on with nobody out, but they cashed it in in the 3rd when they got the same opportunity. After Jake Fuller walked and Reed Thompson doubled with one out, Brent Williams scored Fuller from third on a sacrifice fly and Thompson came around to give Seward a 2-0 lead after a two out single from Kevin Connolly.
Seward's lead didn't last long though as Garden City struck back for two runs of their own in the top half of the 4th inning to tie the game up at 2-2.
It looked like the score would remain that way into the bottom of the 5th as Macke got two quick outs to start the Buster half of the frame, but Garden City staged a two out rally started by a walk to score three times to take their first lead since early in game one at 5-2.
A solo home run from Williams drew the Saints to within a pair in the bottom half of the 5th and the Saints tied the game up in the 6th on RBI singles from Mason Marshall and Alex White to make it 5-5.
Saints reliever Brent Bezio worked a quick 7th for Seward on the mound and the guys in green looked primed to win it in the bottom half on St. Patty's Day.
Williams walked with one out in the bottom of the 7th and Connolly doubled him to third. An intentional walk to Leinweber loaded the bases, still with just one out. Unfortunately for Seward, a 2-0 fly out didn't get the job done and a ground out ended the inning and sent the game to extras.
The lack of execution by the Saints turned to opportunity for the Busters. In the top half of the 8th Garden City runners were all over the bases as the Busters used four hits and a pair of Seward County errors to score four times to take a 9-5 lead.
The Saints offered little resistance in the bottom half of the inning as a baserunner from a one out walk was erased on a line drive double play to end things to give Garden City their first win of the series 9-5.
Three Seward County errors proved costly in the loss, allowing three Garden City unearned runs in the 9-5 final. The Saints finished with 9 hits in the defeat, getting 2 for 3 afternoons from both Connolly and Leinweber and a 2 RBI game from Williams. Bezio suffered the loss on the mound for Seward, allowing 4 runs, 1 earned, in 2 1/3 innings of work.
In the series finale it was Seward getting in their own way early on as the Saints allowed Garden City to score two 2nd inning runs without the benefit of a hit as starter Keenan Hall walked three Buster hitters and a throwing error from Marshall behind the plate gifted Garden City a 2-0 lead.
The Seward offense picked their defense up in the bottom half of the inning as Leinweber singled and Connolly doubled to start the frame and both later came around to score on RBI's from Marshall and Brandon Rix to tie the game at 2.
Garden City solo home runs in the 3rd and 4th innings put the Busters back on top 4-2 and a quick eight pitch inning for Seward on offense in the bottom of the 4th meant that the score remained that way into the 5th.
Hall worked around traffic in the top half of the 5th to keep it a 4-2 game and his offense rewarded him with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning on two out RBI's from Williams and Leinweber to tie the game back up at 4.
Seward went to the bullpen in the 6th and reliever Nolan McCutcheon worked around a two out error to keep the score tied, but the Saints offense couldn't find a way to get any action going in the bottom half and as they had in the first game of the double header, the teams went to the 7th tied, this time at 4-4.
A leadoff walk spelled doom for the Saints in the 7th as Garden City manufactured a run to go on top 5-4 and it looked like the Busters were on their way to a series split with just three outs left to get.
With one out in the bottom half of the Saints 7th, the most unlikely of power surges came off the bat of leadoff man Jake Fuller who drove a 1-2 pitch over the wall for just his second career home run to tie the game at 5. Later in the inning with two outs, Williams kept Seward's chances alive and on the second pitch that he saw, Leinweber laced a single to the outfield scoring Williams to give the Saints a 6-5 walk off win to take the series.
Seward outhit Garden 8-6 in the win, but made things tough on themselves as they committed 5 errors in the game while the Busters played a clean final game of the series. Leinweber was the offensive star for Seward, going 3 for 4 with 2 RBI's in the victory. No other Saint had more than 1 hit in the contest. Grant Glaze earned his second win of the year, tossing a scoreless inning in relief for Seward.
The Saints win the series with Garden City for the fourth straight season. Seward moves to 17-11 overall on the year with the split while their Jayhawk West Conference record goes to 8-4 where they sit in a three way tie with Hutchinson and Butler who are both 6-2. Garden City ends the series at 13-12 overall and 6-6 in Jayhawk West action where they are in a log jam in the middle of the conference standings.