Rival Busters Walk Off Saints Season
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Seward County Community College | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 4 |
|
Garden City Community College | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 2 |
They say pitching and defense wins championships and the Seward County Saints struggled with both again on Sunday in the Region VI Tournament as Seward committed 4 errors and gave rival Garden City 7 free passes to allow them to hang around and eventually knock off the Saints 7-6 in walk off fashion to end their 2014 season.
With Garden City being stuck at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium until nearly 11:00 PM Saturday night due to a weather delay and then having to be back at the field for a 9:00 AM completion of that game on Sunday morning, the Saints looked to take advantage of a tired Buster bunch as they got their game underway at just past 3:00 PM local time on Sunday afternoon.
A pair of Saint lefties, Reed Thompson and Jordan Leinweber singled in the 1st inning to put Seward in business and Kevin Connolly lined a double to right to score Thompson from second and give the Saints a quick 1-0 lead.
Just when it looked like there was a chance that the Saint would grab the early momentum in the game, Seward starter Pete Macke came out in the bottom of the 1st and had trouble finding the zone. Macke walked the first hitter of the game on four pitches and walked the second hitter of the game after getting the at bat to a full count. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third with nobody out and after two more balls, a hit batter loaded the bases, still with nobody out. Seward Head Coach Galen McSpadden was forced to go to the bullpen just three batters into the game and before Macke could record a single out in his start. A wild pitch scored one run and without swinging the bat a single time in the game, Garden City had tied the score at 1. A groundout later in the inning brought home another run and without a hit in the inning the Busters led things 2-1 after 1.
After the wild pitch on his first pitch out of the Seward bullpen, Saints reliever Chris Juracek settled down, retiring all three hitters he saw in the first and worked a scoreless 2nd to keep the Saints behind by just one.
Bryson Allen legged out an infield single to start the Seward 3rd and Brent Williams walked to put two on with nobody out. After a groundout moved the runners up 90 feet, Connolly drew a walk to load the bases in front of Seward third baseman Brandon Rix. Rix took the first pitch he saw for a ball before stinging a single to right to bring home two runs and put the Saints up 3-2. Even with runners on the corners and just one out, the Saints weren't able to get anything else as a popup on the infield and a strikeout looking ended the threat and the inning with Seward up by one.
Juracek worked another scoreless inning in the Garden 3rd and Jake Fuller singled to lead off the Saints 4th and scored on a gap shot double by Thompson to put Seward up 4-2. With one out in the inning, Williams flared a single to center to score Thompson and just like that the Saints were in front 5-2.
A Garden City single followed by a four pitch walk got a Buster rally started in the bottom of the 4th and a sacrifice bunt and a Seward error allowed a Garden run to score to make it 5-3. A groundout got the second out of the inning for the Saints but not without Garden City pushing another run home to make it 5-4 at the end of 4 full innings of play.
The Saints got two hits in the top half of the 5th but a double play killed that rally and the Busters got a leadoff single and used a Seward error to get the runner to second to start their half of the 5th, but Juracek battled out of the jam to keep it a 5-4 Seward lead into the 6th.
Fuller reached base to start another Saints rally in the 6th where he moved to third on a single from Williams before racing home on a wild pitch to stretch the Seward lead to 6-4.
Juracek worked two outs deep into the 6th before being lifted with a 6-4 lead and two runners on base, but Brent Bezio came in out of the bullpen to work out of the mess and keep the Saints in front 6-4.
The Saints couldn't keep momentum on their side in the 7th as they went quietly before stretch time and allowed an 0-2 hit and committed an error to let Garden City score twice in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game up at 6.
Seward's offensive struggles against Garden City sidewinder Austin Aspegren, who struck out a pair and worked around an error to keep the score tied at 6 as the Busters came to hit in the last of the inning.
The Saints third reliever of the game, Adam Guay, needed just six pitches to get through the top of the Garden City order in 1-2-3 fashion to keep the score tied as it went to the 9th.
The Saints hoped they could break through against Aspegren in the 9th as they sent up the meat of their order, but they were retired in order with their third goose egg in a row as the score remained knotted at 6.
A leadoff walk started trouble for the Saints in the bottom half of the 9th and a sacrifice bunt gave the Busters two shots at the win with a runner on second and one out. Garden catcher Frankie Alvarez attempted to bunt his way aboard but the field turf at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium had different ideas as the bunt attempt popped up and hit Alvarez out of the box on his way to first to give the Saints their second out of the inning. After a first pitch ball to designated hitter Jaxson Mohr, Guay floated a changeup across the middle of the plate to even the count at 1-1. Guay tried to do the same thing on the 1-1 pitch and paid for it as Mohr singled through the left side to bring the runner around from second to score and in walk off fashion, the Busters ended the Saints season with a 7-6 victory.
As they did earlier in the tournament in their first loss, the Saints outhit their opponent 11-9 in the defeat. It was the 4 defensive errors to Garden City's 2 that eventually did the Saints in. Eight different Seward hitters had hits in the loss including Rix who had a pair of RBI's and Thompson who was 2 for 5 with 2 runs scored and an RBI for the Saints. Juracek was in line for the win when he left the game, pitching a career high 5 2/3 innings, allowing 5 hits and 2 runs, 1 earned, while striking out a pair in a no-decision. Guay took the loss for Seward, giving up a hit and a run in 2 innings of work to finish the game.
A disappointing season ends for Seward at 32-29 and they go out in 6th place in the Region VI Tournament after finishing 3rd a year ago. Garden City improves to 38-21 and advances to semifinal Monday where they will take on Jayhawk East Champ Johnson County.