Wild Weekend in Colby Ends in Split

The Wild Wild West broke out in a Jayhawk West Conference series this weekend in Colby with four games between Seward County and Colby on the baseball diamond.  None of the games were close, with each decided by nine or more runs, however, in the end, it was a 2-2 split for the teams, keeping the Saints at .500 in conference play on the year while the split was good enough to keep the Trojans in a 1^st place tie at weekends end. 

Game one was a marquee matchup on the mound in front of a number of Major League Baseball scouts between Seward's Jakob Hernandez and Colby's Jeremy Gwinn. 

The Trojans came out swinging, getting a run in the 1^st and another in the 3^rd to jump in front of Seward early 2-0. 

The Saints got a run back in the 4^th on an RBI single from Antonio Dorado to make it a 2-1 game, but Colby responded with three straight hits to begin their half of the frame, plating two runs to push their lead back to 4-1. 

Gwinn fanned the side in the top of the 5^th and the Trojans put the game out of reach in the bottom half of the inning, getting a two run home run to make it a 6-1 game. 

Seward made a last ditch attempt to stay in the game in the 6^th, getting two runs on an Easton Herring single, but as the Saints went to their bullpen in the bottom of the inning, they found little relief as Colby scored six times in the frame to take a 12-3 lead before closing it out in the 7^th to win by that score. 

Seward was outhit 14-5 in the game.  Herring led Seward with a 1-2 day, driving in a pair of runs.  Hernandez was saddled with the loss in his roughest outing of the year, allowing nine hits and six runs while striking out nine to fall to 5-3 on the year. 

SEWARD COUNTY/COLBY GAME ONE BOX SCORE

Game two got off to an entertaining start as Seward scored three times in the top half of the 1^st inning, getting an RBI groundout from Josh Nicol and a two run home from Justin Graff-Rowe to take their first lead of the day at 3-0.  

The Saints lead didn't last long though as Colby answered back with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to tie the score at 3-3. 

Seward was back at it in the 2^nd, sending eight men to the plate and scoring three more times, getting RBI singles from Errett Edwards and Dorado as well as a sacrifice fly from Chad Kennedy to re-take the lead 6-3. 

For the third straight frame in the 3^rd, the Saints plated three runs, this time getting their runs off of an RBI double from Jared Ledbetter and a two run home run from Edwards to go in front 9-3. 

The Saints continued to pummel Trojan pitching in the 4^th as Dorado drove in his second run of the game with an RBI single and Nicol did the same to make it 11-3.  They weren't done yet though, getting a run scoring triple from Judah Sweat off the wall with two outs and he later scored on an RBI from Logan Nethercot to make it 13-3. 

After a rough start, Seward starter Adam Keller settled in, blanking the high octane Colby offense from the 2^nd to the 5^th inning where the Trojans finally showed a second wind, getting a two run double with two outs to cut the Saints lead to 13-5. 

Seward put together another multi-run inning in the top half of the 7^th as Graff-Rowe and Sweat banged RBI singles through the infield to make it a 16-5 game. 

With the run rule staring them in the face, Colby had a chance to keep the game going in the bottom of the 7^th as they scored a run and loaded the bases with two outs, but were cut down at the plate trying to score on a wild pitch to end the game with the Saints coming out with a 16-6 win. 

Seward scored their 16 runs on 13 hits in the victory.  Sweat led the Saints with a 3-4 game, driving home three and scoring a pair of runs in the process.  Graff-Rowe and Edwards also had big games, each going 2-4 with home runs and accounting for five runs each with three RBI's and two runs scored.  Keller earned the win on the mound, going six solid innings, striking out eight to improve to 6-1 on the year. 

SEWARD COUNTY/COLBY GAME TWO BOX SCORE

With the wind blowing out on day two of the series, hitters on both sides saw their eyes get the size of silver dollars as they walked into the park. 

It was the Saints taking advantage of the conditions literally right off the bat in game three as Graff-Rowe led off the game with a home run on just the second pitch of the game to put the Saints ahead 1-0.  After back to back singles from Nethercot and Dorado, it was Dylan Paul's turn as the 6'6 lefty sent a ball soaring into the atmosphere for a three run shot to put the Saints in front 4-0 after just four batters had come to the plate.  Kennedy was the third Seward hitter to blast off in the 1^st as his solo shot sailed over the wall in right to give the Saints a 5-0 lead before Colby had a chance to hit. 

Seward starting pitcher Jared Biddy didn't have the same problem as he took the mound for the Saints, facing the minimum through two innings and working around a two out walk in the 3^rd to keep the Trojans off the board. 

Kennedy opened the 4^th with his second home run of the game, this one to left field, extending the Seward lead to 6-0. 

After Biddy put up another zero in the bottom of the inning, the Saints were back at it at the plate in the 5^th.  A two run single from Nicol made it 8-0 in favor of Seward and a two run double from Brian Tims put the Saints in front 10-0.  Graff-Rowe's bat stayed red hot with another run driven home to make it 11-0 and a three run bomb over the scoreboard in right from Dorado blew the Seward lead open to 14-0. 

Biddy did the rest for the Saints, pitching around a leadoff Colby single and a hit batter in the bottom of the 5^th to close the Trojans out and preserve his shutout, giving Seward a 14-0 run rule win in five. 

Seward battered Colby pitching for 16 hits in the win with eight of nine starters collecting hits in the victory.  Kennedy was a perfect 3-3 with two home runs while Graff-Rowe and Nethercot also collected three hits each.  Biddy tossed a two hit shutout, striking out three and walking just one to improve to 4-0 on the year. 

SEWARD COUNTY/COLBY GAME TWO BOX SCORE

With a series win for the Saints or a series split for the Trojans on the line in game four, it was Seward jumping out to the early lead with a 1^st inning run on an RBI single from Nethercot to take a 1-0 lead. 

It didn't take long for Colby to answer as the Trojans saw their first two hitters of the bottom of the inning reach before a three run home run clear the center field wall to put Colby in front 3-1. 

In the Seward 2^nd, Edwards lifted a fly ball to left that left the yard for his second home run in as many games, a three run shot to put the Saints back in front 4-3. 

Again, the Saints joy was short lived as Colby came right back at them in the bottom of the inning, sending 12 men to the plate and scoring six times to open up a 9-4 lead of their own. 

After the first 1-2-3 frame of the day in the Saints 3^rd, the Trojans were back on the offensive in the bottom of the inning, getting a leadoff home run, an RBI single, and a bases loaded walk to plate three more and make it a 12-4 game. 

Edwards was once again the catalyst for a Seward crooked number in the 4^th, coming up with two on after an RBI double from Herring, and taking advantage with his second three run home run of the game to center to cut the Colby lead to 12-8. 

It remained 12-8 to the bottom of the 5^th when it was Colby's turn to put it on the Saints bullpen some more.  The Trojans benefitted from three free passes, scoring five times on just three hits to blow the game back open to 17-8. 

The Saints continued to use the long ball as their weapon of choice in the 6^th as Graff-Rowe launched another two run shot to left to make it a 17-10 game, but Colby answered with four more runs on just two hits in the bottom of the inning to make it 21-10. 

Seward put two on in the 7^th as they tried to extend the game, but a strikeout finished things off as Colby won the series finale in a run rule 21-10. 

The game featured 30 hits, 18 for Colby and 12 for the Saints.  Edwards had himself a whale of a game, going 4-4 with two home runs and a career high six RBI's to lead the Saints while Graff-Rowe was 2-4 with a home run, two RBI's and two runs scored out of the leadoff spot.  Tims took the loss on the mound for Seward, yielding five runs on six hits in just one inning of work.  Saints pitching walked nine and hit six in the game while striking out just three. 

SEWARD COUNTY/COLBY GAME FOUR BOX SCORE

After all the dust was settled on the wild weekend, it was a split for the Saints and Trojans.  Seward goes to 18-17 overall and 8-8 in Jayhawk West action where they remain in 6^th place, while Colby moves to 25-11 overall and 14-6 in league action where they stay tied with Dodge City for the top spot in the standings. 

Up next for Seward is a midweek trip to Clarendon on Wednesday for a non-conference contest before returning to conference action next weekend at home when they host the Cloud County Thunderbirds at Brent Gould Field Saturday and Sunday.