Bats Power Saints to Day One Sweep of Pratt

The Seward County Saints broke out of a season long five game losing streak in a big way Saturday afternoon at Brent Gould Field in Liberal, swinging their way to 8-4 and 19-5 wins over visiting Pratt to take the first two games of the Saints and Beavers four game Jayhawk West Conference series this weekend. 

After Seward pitching allowed 43 runs in their previous two games, both losses, Saints fans got a breath of fresh air early on in game one versus the Beavers Saturday as starter Austin King dealt two quick innings which included four strikeouts to keep Pratt off the board through two innings of play. 

The Saints used the momentum from their sophomore lefthander to take the early lead against the Beavers in the 2^nd, using a pair of singles and a two out double from Brandon Rix to take a 2-0 lead. 

Seward extended upon their lead in the 3^rd as again with two outs they continued to find holes in the Pratt defense.  As they did in the 2^nd, a two out double started the scoring for Seward when Mason Marshall inched one inside the right field line to score two runs to make it a 4-0 game in favor of the Saints.  Marshall moved to third on a single from Jake Fuller and Jordan Leinweber squared up his second pitch of the day with a line drive single to right to score Marshall to put the Saints up 5-0. 

Pratt finally broke through against King in the top half of the 4^th after a lengthy at bat from BJ Dean ended with a three run shot over the left center field wall to all of a sudden draw the Beavers to within two at 5-3.  The Beavers hammered out two more hits after the home run to score another run and just like that it was a one run game 5-4. 

The Saints answered right back in the bottom half of the inning as a pair of singles and a Pratt error gave Seward a 6-4 lead and later in the inning a pair of wild pitches allowed another Seward run to cross to make it 7-4.

King settled down after the big Pratt inning, working a 1-2-3 top half of the 5^th for the Saints and it looked like Seward would extend on their advantage in the bottom half of the frame as they loaded the bases without the benefit of a hit.  However, as the Seward lineup turned over, they were unable to get the big two out hit this time and a groundout ended the threat to keep the score 7-4. 

King stranded two Pratt runners on base to end the top half of the 6^th frame and the Saints got an insurance run in the bottom half on a leadoff walk and a Beaver error later in the inning to push their lead to 8-4. 

Saints Head Coach Galen McSpadden never even thought about going to the bullpen as the 7^th inning hit and King rewarded the 33^rd year head man with another 1-2-3 frame to close out the game to give the Saints an 8-4 win. 

The Saints 11 hits in the game were spread out at 8 of 9 starters had at least 1 knock in the win.  Brent Williams and Kevin Connolly each had 2 hits and 2 runs scored for Seward in the middle of the order while Marshall and Rix each finished with 2 RBI's on their early game doubles.  King earned the win on the mound for Seward, going the distance and allowing 6 hits and 4 runs, all earned, while striking out 8.  In the win, King did issue a walk, which wouldn't be of note besides the fact that it was his first of the year.  It took King 40 2/3 innings and 46 strikeouts to start the year before he issued that walk, a stat which will be researched to see if any college baseball records were broken with. 

SEWARD COUNTY/PRATT GAME ONE BOX SCORE

Seward got off to another hot start in game two of the series as after a quick 1-2-3 top half of the 1^st from starter JB Olson, the Saints scored three times in the bottom half of the inning, taking advantage of four Pratt walks to take an early 3-0 lead.

Olson worked his second straight 1-2-3 inning in the 2^nd and once again the Saints were back on the sticks in the bottom half of the frame. 

With two outs in the inning Bryson Allen ripped a triple to the gap to score Max Lusk who also tripled in the inning to make it 4-0.  They didn't stop there as Williams doubled to score Allen from third and then Leinweber took advantage of a dropped pop up by Pratt's catcher with a two run home run over the right field wall to push the Saints lead to 7-0.  An infield single by Connolly got the Saints back going again and a Pratt error moved Connolly into scoring position with two outs.  Jake Fuller then ripped an RBI single up the middle to score Connolly and after 2 it was Seward 8 and Pratt 0. 

Olson sailed through the 3^rd, still without allowing a baserunner and the Saints continued to build onto their lead in the bottom half of the inning.  An RBI single from Allen scored one run for the Saints and an RBI double from Williams scored two more to make it an 11-0 game.  Leinweber continued his big day with an RBI double behind Williams two bagger to give the Saints a 12-0 lead. 

Pratt finally got their first baserunner against Olson in the 4^th with a one out single, but the Saints righthander struck out two straight batters to end the inning to keep Seward in front 12-0. 

Rix walked to start the Seward 4^th and moved to second and then to third on wild pitches before scoring on a sacrifice fly from Lusk to make it 13-0 Saints. 

It remained 13-0 Seward after 4 ½ as Olson notched two more strikeouts to keep the Beavers off the board in the 5^th. 

The Saints added a run to their lead, making it 14-0 in the bottom half of the inning on a ringing single from Connolly with one out in the frame.

Olson struck out the side in the Pratt 6^th, but not before the Beavers were able to score three times on four hits including a double and a triple to make it a 14-3 game. 

The Saints bats continued to put pressure on the Pratt defense and pitching in the bottom of the 6^th as Reed Thompson and Allen doubled back to back with one out in the inning to score a run to make it 15-3.  Later in the inning Connolly continued his big day with an RBI double off the wall to score Allen and Fuller singled behind him to score two more to blow the game open to 18-3.  Seward added one more run in the inning on a bloop single from John Solberg and with just three outs left to get before the run rule kicked in, the Saints led it 19-3. 

Pratt made a little bit of noise in the 7^th, scoring twice on two hits and a Seward error, but it was far too little too late for the Beavers who watched Seward sweep day one of the series with a 19-5 run rule win in game two. 

The Saints pounded out 20 hits including 11 extra base hits in the win.  All nine Seward starters had a hit in the victory and the Saints first seven hitters in the order all had multi-hit game in the romp of the Beavers.  Williams had a monster game for the Saints, reaching base in all 5 plate appearances, going 3 for 3 with 3 doubles while driving in 4 and scoring 4 runs.  Allen was 3 for 4 with a double, a triple, and 3 RBI's in the two hole for the Saints while Connolly was also 3 for 4 with 3 RBI's in the middle of the Saints order.  Olson's brilliant performance on the hill was a bit overshadowed by the offense, but the freshman ace picked up the win, going 6 innings and allowing 6 hits and 3 runs while striking out 10 Beaver hitters without walking a batter.

SEWARD COUNTY/PRATT GAME TWO BOX SCORE

Seward snaps a five game losing streak with the two wins, improving to 20-16 overall on the year and 10-8 in Jayhawk West action.  Pratt's rough start to the year continues as they fall to 13-20 overall and 2-12 in conference play on the year. 

The Saints and Beavers will go at it once again on Sunday afternoon at Brent Gould Field to wrap up the series.  The double header between Seward and Pratt will begin at 1:00 with the series finale getting underway at approximately 3:30.