Saints Drop First Ever Series to Trojans

Living in the "Land of Oz" you often here the phrase 'there's no place like home'.  For the Seward County Saints this season that has certainly been the case as Saturday their road struggles continued as they managed just a split with Colby, losing their first ever series to the Trojans, as they fell to 6-15 away from the friendly confines of Brent Gould Field this season. 

After dropping both games of their Friday to the Trojans, things got off to a bad start again for Seward in their first game of the day on Saturday with Colby as the Trojans scored three times in the bottom of the 1^st inning to grab an early 3-0 lead on the Saints. 

The Saints did respond though and in just one inning of work, they matched their offensive production from all of day one of the series, getting singles from Brandon Rix and John Solberg to score a run and then RBI's later in the inning from Reed Thompson and Bryson Allen to tie the score at 3. 

After a scoreless 2^nd, Colby took the lead back in the 3^rd, scoring five times on five hits, a Seward error and a pair of walks to quickly go back on top 8-3. 

Colby gave the Saints a run back in the 4^th on an error and a bases loaded walk, but the Saints inning came to an end with the bases loaded on a strikeout looking to end the frame with them down 8-4. 

Another Seward error in the 5^th led to a Colby run to make it 9-4 Trojans and Colby blew the game wide open in the 6^th , scoring four more times to make it a 13-4 ballgame. 

The Saints mounted little in the way of a comeback attempt in the 7^th and fittingly struck out to end the game as Colby took game three and clinched the series with a 13-4 win. 

Colby hammered out 15 hits to the Saints 10 in the contest.  Brent Williams, Jordan Leinweber, Rix, and Solberg each had 2 hits for the Saints in the loss.  Keenan Hall took the loss on the mound, lasting just 2 1/3 innings, allowing 8 hits, 7 runs, 6 earned, while striking out 3. 

SEWARD COUNTY/COLBY GAME THREE BOX SCORE

The Saints took their first lead of the series in the 3^rd inning of game four as a misplayed fly ball by the Trojans let in a pair of Seward runs with two outs in the inning and an RBI single from Thompson and a two run home run from Rix had the Saints out in front 5-0. 

Colby answered right back though and used a two out dropped third strike to score a run and extend the inning where they later got a pair of singles to score runs to cut the Saints lead to 5-3. 

It remained a 5-3 lead for the Saints into the 6^th when Colby evened things up on a sacrifice fly and a two out triple to tie the game at 5 and chase Saints starter Pete Macke from the contest. 

Seward responded with a crooked number of their own in the top of the 7^th as Bryson Allen doubled home Brandon Urquizo with one out in the inning and Williams hit his sixth home run of the year over the trees in right to score two to make it an 8-5 game in favor of the Saints. 

That is all the Saints needed as relief specialist Adam Guay took it from there.  Guay worked around a two out, no on jam in the 7^th to keep the score 8-5 and then worked a 1-2-3 frame in the 8^th to get the game to the 9^th with the score still 8-5. 

Colby managed a leadoff single in the 9^th off of Guay, but that was it, as the sophomore righthander got a pair of popups to shut things down and give the Saints an 8-5 win to finish the series. 

Seward outhit Colby 13-8 in the contest, getting multi-hit games from each of their first four hitters in the lineup.  Urquizo was 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored atop the order while Williams, Rix, and Kevin Connolly each had 2 hits and 2 runs driven home.  Guay pitched 4 brilliant shutout innings out of the Saints bullpen to earn the win.  He allowed just 3 hits without walking a batter to improve to 2-1 on the year.  Macke started and went 5 innings in a no-decision, allowing 5 hits and 5 runs, just 2 earned, while striking out 7. 

SEWARD COUNTY/COLBY GAME FOUR BOX SCORE

The series win for Colby is the first ever for the Trojans over the Saints.  Seward falls to 25-20 on the year after the weekend and drops to 13-11 in Jayhawk West play where they now sit in a dogfight for home playoff positioning in the West.  The Saints end the weekend in a three way tie with Dodge City and Colby and after tiebreakers, sit in 5^th place in the league standings.  Colby improves to 24-20 overall and 15-13 in league play where they have now inside positioning for a home playoff date. 

Next up for the Saints is a midweek road contest at Clarendon on Wednesday before a vitally important home Jayhawk West series against Cloud County on Friday and Saturday at Brent Gould Field.