Seward Clinches Jayhawk West Conference Championship

For the 11^th time in the past 15 seasons, a banner will be raised at Brent Gould Field in Liberal after the Seward County Saints clinched the 2015 Jayhawk West Conference Championship with a sweep of the Barton Cougars Saturday in Hays.  In game one the Saints erased an early 5-1 deficit to come from behind and win 9-7 over the Cougars.  In game two it was a different story as the Saints smashed five home runs in a 12-5 romp to secure the conference title.

Going into the final weekend of the Jayhawk West Conference season with a two game lead in the conference standings, the Saints got off to a good start in game one against Barton on Saturday as Brandon Rix stung a double to right field to score the games first run to put Seward up 1-0 in the 1^st. 

The Saints lead didn't last long though as Barton came back with a five spot in the bottom half of the inning including a grand slam home run to take a 5-1 lead. 

It remained a 5-1 game into the 3^rd when the Saints cut the Cougar lead in half, getting three straight singles from Brent Williams, Brandon Rix, and Dillon Drury to score two runs and make it a 5-3 game. 

Saints starter JB Olson continued to settle in after the slow start, working a quick 1-2-3 bottom half of the 3^rd for Seward and his offense rewarded him with two more runs in the top half of the 4^th on a sacrifice fly from Alex White and a solo home run from Brandon Urquizo to tie the game at 5.   

Just when the Saints caught up, they would have to play from behind again though as Barton strung together three hits in the bottom half of the 4^th, including a pair of run scoring doubles to jump back in front 7-5. 

Down to their final four outs in the top half of the 6^th, the Saints went to work, getting two out RBI singles from Rix and Drury to once again tie the game up, this time at 7. 

Barton looked like they were going to grab the lead right back as they got a leadoff double to start their half of the 6^th, but Olson came up big, getting a pair of pop outs on the infield and a groundout to end the threat and keep the game deadlocked at 7. 

The Saints top half of the 7^th couldn't have started off much better as Antonio Dorado doubled and Logan Nethercot singled to put runners on the corners with nobody out.  However, Seward didn't execute in their first two chances to do so, popping up and then striking out to keep the ducks on the pond now with two outs.  That's when sophomore Brandon Urquizo came up clutch for the guys in green, lining a single to left field to plate Dorado and give the Saints a 8-7 lead.  Williams was then hit by a pitch to load the bases and Rix followed suit, taking one for the team to push home an insurance run to give Seward a 9-7 advantage. 

Barton got another leadoff double to start the 7^th and after a ground ball out, Olson was lifted from the game in favor of southpaw Jakob Hernandez.  The reigning Jayhawk West pitcher of the Week took care of business out of the bullpen for the Saints getting a groundout and then a three pitch strikeout to close out the Cougars and give Seward a 9-7 victory. 

The Saints had 15 hits in the win, getting a perfect 7 for 7 game from Canon City High School teammates Brandon Rix and Logan Nethercot who went 4 for 4 and 3 for 3 respectively in the victory.  Brent Williams and Dillon Drury each had 2 hits and 2 RBI's for Seward while JB Olson improved to 9-3 on the year as he went 6 1/3 innings, allowing 9 hits and 7 runs for the Saints. 

SEWARD COUNTY/BARTON GAME ONE BOX SCORE

With their magic number to clinch the Jayhawk West outright down to just one, the Saints got off to another good start in game two of the twinbill.  Seward got three 1^st inning hits and RBI's from Drury and Justin Graff-Rowe in the opening frame to jump in front of the Cougars early 2-0. 

Once again though, the pesky Cougars fought right back, loading the bases on three straight singles in their half of the 1^st to threaten a big inning on the Saints.  After the Saints were able to record a pair of outs, they let one in the easy way as Seward starter Hayden Howard beaned a Barton hitter to force home a run to cut the Saints lead in half 2-1.  Howard averted further damage and the Saints held the 2-1 lead after 1. 

Barton evened the score in the 2^nd, loading the bases again with nobody out, but again, Howard limited the damage to just one run, but this time it was enough for the Cougars to even the score at 2.

The Saints answered and in a big way in their portion of the 3^rd inning.  After a loud out for the first out of the inning, Seward blasted back to back to back home runs, getting long balls from Williams, Rix, and Drury to take the lead back at 5-2. 

Seward extended upon their lead in the 4^th as Williams and Rix were less flashy, but equally effective, Williams doubling in the inning and later scoring on a wild pitch while Rix drove a run home on a groundout to put the Saints up 7-2. 

Howard put up another goose egg for the Saints in the 4^th, his second straight, and Seward tacked onto their five run lead with another tally in the top half of the 5^th when Alex White singled to left with two outs to plate a run and make it an 8-2 contest. 

In the Seward 6^th, Williams lifted off on his second home run of the game and his 10^th of the 2015 season, another solo shot to stretch the Saints advantage to 9-2. 

For the third time in the game, Barton loaded the bases in the bottom of the 6^th, but also for the third time, Howard was able to limit the Cougars to just one run despite the traffic and the Saints remained comfortably on top into the 7^th by a score of 9-3.

The bottom of the Seward order got things done in their half of the 7^th as Jared Ledbetter squeaked a double down the line to start the Saints inning and moved to third on a single from Alec Isaac.  With runners on the corners and nobody out, Chad Kennedy blew the game wide open, hammering a 1-1 offering over the left center field wall at Larks Park for a three run shot to extend the Seward lead to 12-3. 

Barton again put runners on every base in the 7^th and again they were only able to muster one run to show for it as they missed another golden opportunity to close in on the Saints as Seward remained out in front 12-4.

The Saints loaded the bases in the 8^th but were unable to score and Barton went down quietly in their half to keep it a 12-4 game into the 9^th. 

Needing a huge inning to extend the game, the Cougars were able to manage just a lone tally in the 9^th against Saints reliever Nathan Dockery and the Seward lefty ended the game in style, picking up his fourth strikeout of the game to give the Saints a 12-5 win and clinch yet another Jayhawk West Conference Championship for the guys in green. 

The game was more of a slugfest than even the final score showed as the two combined for 31 hits in the game, 17 for Barton who left 13 men on in the contest and 14 hits for Seward who stranded 8.  Williams had a monster game for the Saints, going 4 for 6 with a double, 2 home runs, and 2 RBI's, missing the cycle by just a triple while collecting 11 total bases in the win.  White had 3 hits at the top of the Seward order while Graff-Rowe had 2 hits and an RBI.  Howard picked up the win, improving to 6-2 on the year by working through 6 innings despite allowing 12 hits and 4 runs while striking out 4. Dockery earned the save for the Saints with 3 solid innings of relief to close things out, he allowed 5 hits and 1 run while punching out 4.

SEWARD COUNTY/BARTON GAME TWO BOX SCORE

The Saints have stormed to the finish line in Jayhawk West Conference play, having won 12 straight after the sweep over the Cougars to improve to 32-20 on the season and 21-9 in Jayhawk West action.  Seward clinches yet another Jayhawk West Championship with two games to go, marking their 11^th title since the 2000 season.  Barton drops to 24-25 overall and 14-16 in Jayhawk West play where they are now eliminated from contention for a home playoff series in next weeks Region VI Tournament.  

Seward and Barton will go at it again on Sunday, this time in Great Bend with a 1:00 start time to wrap up the series.