Mistakes Cost Saints in Opening Round Loss

The Seward County Saints got off to a good start Friday night in their Region VI Tournament 1^st Round game with the rival Hutchinson Blue Dragons and finished the game with guns a blazing, but it was the middle innings that did them in as a four run 9^th inning wasn't enough to erase a five run Hutchinson lead as the Dragons hung on to win 8-7 to push Seward to the elimination bracket. 

It was a pitchers dual early on between the Saints and Dragons as the Jayhawk West's top ERA man, JB Olson took the mound for Seward and the league's top wins man, Kyle Simonds took the ball for Hutch. 

Neither team scored in a quiet 1^st and the Saints broke through in the 2^nd against Simonds as Kevin Connolly showed off his wheels, getting an infield single before moving to second and then scoring on another infield single to give the Saints a 1-0 lead. 

After Olson blanked the Dragons in the bottom of the 2^nd, Seward had a chance to add onto their lead as they loaded the bases in the top half of the 3^rd, but a groundball ended their threat and left the sacks packed as it remained a 1-0 game. 

Hutch played small ball to get on the board in the bottom of the 3^rd, using a leadoff single, a walk, a sac bunt, and a groundout to knot the game at 1.

Seward had Simonds, who entered the game at 12-0 on the year, on the ropes in the 4^th, as they loaded the bases with nobody out, and then got a pair of runs on an RBI single up the middle from Reed Thompson to put them in front 3-1.  As the middle of the Seward order came to the plate with two ducks on the pond, it looked as if the Saints might blow the game open, but the runners wouldn't budge from first and second as the next three Seward hitters were retired to end the threat and halt the Saints momentum for the time being. 

Both teams went down in order in their next at bats and midway through, the score was Seward 3 and Hutchinson 1.

The Saints misplayed a routine fly ball in the outfield to start the bottom of the 5^th to put a runner on second with no outs, but Olson put himself in a position to get out of the jam with a strikeout and a pop out to leave the runner at second with two outs.  However, a hanging changeup caught too much plate and Jacob Ek floated it into a corner for a double to bring the run home and get Hutch within one at 3-2.

Seward remained quietly offensively in their next at bats and Hutchinson continued to put traffic on the bases.  Olson walked the first two hitters of the 6^th, but again looked like he would get out of the jam as he got a sac bunt and a one hop grounder back to himself to record two outs with no damage done.  But, the Dragons came up big once again with two outs, getting a double down the left field line from catcher Dakota Shadoan to score both runs and put the Dragons on top for the first time in the game 4-3. 

The Saints finally got something rolling on the offensive end as they got into the Hutchinson bullpen.  Seward picked up a pair of two out hits to put two on, but a strikeout looking ended the threat and kept the Saints in the trail by one. 

After the 7^th inning stretch, there was one out in the Hutch half of the frame when a fly ball was lifted to left and slicing away from the Saints defender.  A valiant effort was made on a dive attempt, but the play wasn't made and instead of a runner on second with one out, the runner was on third with a triple while proved costly after a single scored the run to give the Dragons another tally to make it a 5-3 game. 

The Seward hitters once again set the table for the middle of their order as Jake Fuller got an infield single and Thompson doubled with one out in the 8^th to put two in scoring position with two cracks at getting them in.  But like they did in the 7^th, a strikeout and a weak fly ball to center killed their rally and kept them down by two as Hutch came to hit in the 8^th. 

Hutch got two straight singles to start their half of the 8^th and the Saints went to the bullpen as they expected a sacrifice bunt attempt with two on and no out.  After the bunt was laid down, the Saints couldn't take care of business, launching the ball into their bullpen to allow both runners to score and the batter to end up at third with nobody out.  Hutch cashed in the run from third with a groundout and into the 9^th the game went with the Dragons up 8-3. 

Just when it looked like the Saints chapter was complete in this one, Seward loaded the bases with nobody out as the first three hitters of the top of the 9^th reached base safely. Saints Head Coach Galen McSpadden pulled the trigger and brought Brandon Urquizo into the game to pinch hit and despite falling behind 0-2 in the count, the freshman drilled a double to dead center, scoring two runs to cut the Saints deficit to 8-5.  After also getting two quick strikes on him, sophomore catcher Mason Marshall worked his way back to 2-2 and then smacked what looked to be a single through the hole on the left side, but he kept on going to second for a double and pushed one run home to make it an 8-6 game with two runners in scoring position and still nobody out in the inning.  Shadoan, now in as the Dragons closer, got a huge strikeout for the first Hutch out of the inning before a fly out from Thompson worked as a sac to bring the run home and draw Seward within one at 8-7.  Now needing a hit to tie it, the Saints couldn't get the job done as a fly ball to left ended the rally and the game as Seward fell 8-7. 

Seward pounded out 16 hits in the game while Hutchinson managed 12.  All nine Seward starters had at least one hit in the contest including Thompson who led the way with 3 hits and 3 RBI's and Marshall who was 3 for 5 with a pair of doubles.  Olson took the loss, falling to 7-3 on the year as he couldn't get out of the 6^th inning, allowing 7 hits and 4 runs, while striking out 7.  The Saints left 13 runners on in the loss and did not have a two out RBI in the contest. 

The Saints fall to 31-28 on the year with the loss while #19 Hutchinson beats Seward for the fifth time this year to improve to 43-15 in 2014.

Next up for the Saints will be a quick turnaround on Saturday as they take on Butler at 1:00 in an elimination bracket game.  To win the tournament, the Saints will now have to win six games in a span of four days. 

SEWARD COUNTY/#19 HUTCHINSON BOX SCORE