Saints Left/Right Combo Knocks Out T-Birds

Seward County pitchers Austin King and JB Olson have been about as steady this season they could be and Friday afternoon at Brent Gould Field in Liberal it was no different as the pair combined to throw 14 innings, allowing just 6 hits and 1 unearned run while striking out 17 Cloud County batters in a big 6-1, 12-0 day one sweep for the Saints. 

Things got off to a bit of a rough start for the Saints in the 1^st inning of game one as Cloud County was able to take an early 1-0 lead without the benefit of a hit as a dropped third strike and an error later in the inning gifted the T-Birds a run to put them ahead before Seward came to hit. 

The Saints shook off the inauspicious beginning quickly though as they jumped all over Cloud pitching in the bottom half of the 1^st.  Reed Thompson and Bryson Allen both collected hits to start the game and Jordan Leinweber singled with one out to drive home a run to tie the game at 1.  Later in the inning Allen scored on a T-Bird error and after a walk to load the bases, John Solberg was hit by a pitch to bring home a run to make it 3-1 Seward.  With two outs in the inning Brandon Urquizo drove a double to the wall scoring two more runs to give the Saints a 5-1 lead after 1. 

Seward extended their lead to 6-1 in the 3^rd as Kevin Connolly doubled home Leinweber who singled to lead off the inning, but Connolly was tagged out trying to move to third on the play to end the Saints threat of a big inning. 

Seward starter Austin King locked in from there.  King allowed just one hit over his final four innings of work, striking out four in the process to stymie the Cloud County attack and preserve the Saints lead. 

The 7^th was another quick one for King who retired the Cloud side on just 10 pitches, getting his 10^th strikeout of the game to finish things up to give the Saints a 6-1 game one win. 

King was outstanding for the Saints in the victory, going the distance in his 7^th win of the season, allowing just 3 hits and 1 unearned run while striking out 10 Cloud County hitters without a walk.  On the year, King now has an unbelievable 65 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio.  The Saints offense wasn't shabby in the win either.  Seward pounded out 11 hits in the victory, getting hits from 7 of the 9 starters in the contest.  Leinweber and Connolly each had 2 hits and an RBI in the victory while Urquizo was 1 for 2 with a double and drove home a pair. 

SEWARD COUNTY/CLOUD COUNTY GAME ONE BOX SCORE

The Saints got after it early and often in game two of the doubleheader as after a quick 1-2-3 inning by starter JB Olson in the 1^st, Seward put up another 1^st inning crooked number in the bottom half of the frame. 

The first five hitters of the Saints 1^st reached base, including an RBI single from Brent Williams and an RBI double from Brandon Rix to give them the early 2-0 lead.  Later in the inning Mason Marshall got into the act, lacing a two out double to the gap to score two more to put the Saints on top 4-0 after 1. 

After another quick inning by Olson in the 2^nd, Seward put up another four spot.  Allen doubled to score Urquizo from first to make it 5-0 and with two outs in the inning three straight hits including an RBI double from Rix and a two RBI single from Reed Thompson gave the Saints an 8-0 cushion. 

The Saints loaded the bases without putting the ball in play in the 3^rd and added a run on an RBI infield single by Connolly to push their lead to 9-0. 

Olson continued to deal, blowing through the heart of the Cloud order in the 4^th to keep his shutout bid intact into the 5^th. 

Cloud finally mounted some sort of offense against Olson in the 5^th, getting a four pitch walk and their first hit of the game to put two on with one out, but Olson got a big strikeout followed by a groundout to end the threat and keep the Saints up 9-0. 

Seward added another run in the 5^th as Williams singled home Leinweber who reached on an error to start the inning to make it a 10-0 game. 

Just for good measure, the Saints tacked on two more in the 6^th on back to back RBI singles from Marshall and Jake Fuller to pad their lead to 12-0 and Olson did the rest, keeping Cloud from plating a run in the 7^th and like King, getting a strikeout to end things in style to preserve his shutout and give the Saints a 12-0 run rule victory. 

Olson was dominant in the victory, going the distance and allowing just 3 hits in the shutout win, striking out 7 Cloud hitters and walking just 1.  The T-Birds weren't even close to scratching a run out against the righthander as Cloud failed to have a single runner reach third base in the contest.  The Saints offense backed Olson with a 15 hit attack as six different Saints had multi-hit games in the win.  Allen finished 3 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored while Marshall had a pair of hits and 3 RBI's and Williams, Rix, and Thompson each had 2 hits and 2 RBI's for the guys in green. 

SEWARD COUNTY/CLOUD COUNTY GAME TWO BOX SCORE

The wins proved big for the Saints who jumped from 6^th place to 4^th place in the Jayhawk West standings on Saturday.  Seward improves to 27-21 overall and 15-11 in Jayhawk West action while Cloud drops to 12-29 overall and 7-19 in conference play where they are now just one game away from being the odd team out for the Region VI Tournament. 

The Saints and T-Birds will go at it again Saturday afternoon at Brent Gould Field with first pitch scheduled for 1:00.