Runs Tough to Come By in Jayhawk Openers

With snow on the ground, wind from the North and frigid temperatures in the air, the Seward County Saints and Dodge City Conquistadors took to the turf at Cavalier Field to open up Jayhawk West Conference Baseball action on Wednesday.  Runs were most certainly at a premium in the contests as game one saw just one run in a 1-0 Dodge City victory and game two saw nothing on the scoreboard until late when the Saints came from behind twice to tie the game in the bottom of the 9^th and then win it in the 10^th 3-2. 

As expected early on, it was a doozy of a pitching matchup between Seward's JB Olson and Dodge City's Luke Crabb.  Both Seward and Dodge picked up 1^st inning singles, but would get nothing else off of the two righthanders until the 3^rd when the Saints got a one out single but stranded the runner to keep the game scoreless.  Dodge threatened for the first time in the top half of the 4^th, picking up a pair of one out singles, but Olson came up big, getting a groundout and a fly out to end the inning to keep the game 0-0.  Unfortunately for Seward, their offense couldn't reward Olson in the bottom half of the inning and the Saints wasted back to back two out hits, leaving their ducks on the pond to keep all gooseeggs on the scoreboard.  The Saints defense let Olson down in the 5^th as the Conqs leadoff man reached on an error and later stole second and then scored with two outs and scored two pitches later to give Dodge the game's first run.  Seward couldn't respond as they struck out looking twice in the bottom of the 5^th and went down in order once again in the 6^th and in their final at bats in the 7^th as they fell 1-0. 

The Saints managed just 4 hits in the game, all singles, while Dodge City picked up 7 in the win.  Olson was tagged with the tough luck loss, going the distance in his third straight complete game, allowing the 7 hits and 1 unearned run while striking out 5 and not walking a batter.  He falls to 2-2 on the season despite lowering his season ERA to 2.03. 

SEWARD COUNTY/DODGE CITY GAME ONE BOX SCORE

Game two was more of the same as Seward's Hayden Howard and Dodge City's Russell Mithlo locked up on the mound.  Through three innings of action, both teams managed just one baserunner off Howard and Mithlo as Dodge got a leadoff single in the 2^nd and Seward had a batter hit by a pitch in the bottom of the inning but neither was able to even reach second base before innings end.  Dodge City got their leadoff man on in the 4^th, but a line drive double play killed that rally and Seward went quietly in the 4^th and 5^th as the game breezed to the 6^th inning scoreless.  The Conquistadors had their best threat to score in the 6^th as they put two runners on with one out, but Howard shut the door, getting a pop up and then a big strikeout to brush the threat aside and keep the game without a run.  Howard handcuffed the Conqs again in the 7^th but once again, Seward couldn't mount any sort of effort on the offensive end and in just 1:15 the two teams were through the 7^th inning with the score still 0-0.  Dodge finally cracked through in the 8^th, scoring an unearned run against Howard after what looked like a sure fire strike em out, throw em out double play went awry to make it 1-0 Conqs.  The top of the Saints order remained ice cold in the bottom of the 8^th and the teams went to the 9^th with the score still 1-0 in favor of the Conqs.  Saints reliever Chris Juracek kept the Conqs in check in the 9^th, pitching around a leadoff bunt single to give the Saints a chance in the bottom of the 9^th.  Back to back singles by freshmen Justin Graff-Rowe and Logan Nethercot put the Saints in business, but a line drive to the shortstop looked as if it was going to end the game in double play style.  Instead, the ball deflected off the Conquistador leather and loaded the bases for the Saints.  Just three pitches later, a ground ball to first base once again looked like the Saints could be in trouble with a twin killing, and once again Dodge City didn't take care of the baseball, getting their only out at first base on the play as Graff-Rowe scored Seward's first run in 16 innings of work to tie the game at 1.  In the 10^th Juraceck beaned the first batter he saw, but looked like he would get out of the inning after a two out groundball on the infield.  However, another Saints defensive error allowed the Conqs to get a run home and once again Seward was down to their final three outs trailing by one, this time 2-1.  Brandon Urquizo shook off a slow day at the plate with a leadoff single for the Saints in the 10^th and Dodge City had trouble handling a Seward bunt to put runners on first and second with nobody out.  Then up to the plate stepped the Saints All-American catcher Brent Williams who showed flashes of 2014 when he broke the NJCAA's all-time doubles record as he slashed a line drive into right center field for a two bagger scoring Urquizo from second to tie the score at 2.  Dodge City then intentionally walked Brandon Rix to load the bases with still no outs in the inning and Graff-Rowe bled a single over the drawn in infield to score Alex White from third base and win the game in walk off fashion for the Saints 3-2. 

After struggling to just 4 hits after 8 innings, the Saints finished game two with 10 hits compared to 8 for Dodge City.  Williams collected 3 hits in 5 trips to the plate in game two, picking up a double and the game tying RBI in the process.  Graff-Rowe was the hero for Seward, scoring the game tying run and driving in the winner in the 10^th, he finished the game 2 for 4 as did Nethercot.  Howard took the no-decision, going 7 2/3 innings, allowing 7 hit and 1 unearned run while fanning 6.  Juracek earned his first win of the season, going 2 1/3 innings out of the Saints bullpen, allowing 1 hit and 1 unearned run while striking out 3 and not walking a batter. 

SEWARD COUNTY/DODGE CITY GAME TWO BOX SCORE

The split moves Seward to 5-8 overall on the year and they open Jayhawk West play at 1-1 while Dodge City goes to 8-2 on the year and is also 1-1 in early West action.  The Saints and Conqs are scheduled to wrap up the series Sunday in Liberal, but weather forecasts are putting a damper on hopes of that occurring.  Stay tuned to SewardSaints.com for schedule updates throughout the week.