Seward County sweeps Trinidad State on opening weekend

LIBERAL, Kan. - Seward County Community College swept Trinidad State College over the weekend to start the 2023 season 4-0 at Brent Gould Field. The Saints opened up the series on Friday, February 3rd, with two wins, 7-1 and 15-1, and followed up on Saturday with a 7-4 victory and a 10-9 walk-off win. The Saints will be back in action Saturday as they host Kirkwood Community College for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. CT.

GAME 1

To start the game, Trinidad State scored off a single to center field that scored one run. The Saints responded in the bottom of the first inning with a double by Tristan Curless that scored Jaxson Gregg and Ranse Radtke. Trenton Rowan followed suit with a double of his own that scored Curless, as the Saints took a 3-1 lead. 

In the third inning, Seward County's Mason Hagel-Pitt singled to left field, and an error led to Curless scoring as the Saints extended their lead to 4-1. Connor Cox connected on the double in the fourth inning and scored Elijah Bear, and Cox scored after a single by Radtke. 

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Curless singled to score Radtke to extend the Saints' lead 7-1. Seward County's defense kept the Trojans scoreless for six innings and closed the game in the seventh inning 7-1. 

Brian Luna Alvarez picked up the victory from the mound with four innings pitched, five hits, and one earned run. Francisco Cardenas came out of the bullpen and pitched the final three innings with one hit and zero earned runs in the contest. 

GAME 2

In the second game of the doubleheader on Friday, The Saints scored first in the bottom of the first with a sacrifice fly by Jordan Crowder, scored Todd Baffa. Curless was active on the bases as he scored the second run of the game on a wild pitch by the Trojans. Bear had a two-RBI single to center field as Hagel-Pitt and Rowan came across to score as Seward County led 4-0 after the first inning. 

Trinidad State scored their only run of the game in the top of the second inning as Seward County still led 2-1. The Saints responded with seven runs in the bottom of the second inning to take an 11-1 advantage into the third inning. Seward County put the final stamp on the contest with four more runs in the third inning and led 15-1. 

Aidan Moore started on the mound for the Saints with four innings pitched, two hits, and one earned run and was awarded the win. Ryuga Matsumura came in and had zero runs and zero hits in the final inning. 

GAME 3

On the last day of the series, the Saints opened up the game in the second inning with Baffa's single that scored Cox, and Jarron Wilcox. The Trojans responded with three runs in the top of the third inning to lead 3-2 over the Saints. Rowan homered to right field and tied the game at three, all in the third.

Wilcox hit his first home run in the sixth inning as the Saints took the lead 4-3. Radtke doubled to score two with Raney and Cox, which led to another Rowan double that scored Radtke. Seward County led 7-3 heading into the seventh inning. 

In the top of the seventh inning, Trinidad scored one more, but the Saints closed it out to win 7-4 and improved to 3-0 on the year. 

Tristan Curless picked up the win from the mound as he pitched three innings with three hits and three strikeouts. TJ Newman entered the game from the bullpen and went four innings with four hits, and one earned run, and three strikeouts. 

GAME 4

The final game of the series started with the Saints in the lead 1-0 after a Tucker Livermore single that scored Keagon Pitton in the second inning. Trinidad State responded with three runs in the third inning and added one more in the fourth to take a 4-1 advantage. Conner Raney helped the Saints get back on the board with a single to center field that scored Crowder. 

In the fifth inning, the Trojans scored three runs and took a 7-2 lead over the Saints. Crowder hit an RBI single that scored Brody Boisvert to cut into the Trinidad States' lead 7-3.  The Trojans added two more runs in the sixth as the Saints faced their most significant season deficit, 9-3. Seward County responded in the bottom of the sixth as they scored five runs, including two runs walked in. 

Seward County trailed 9-8 in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Radtke tied it at 9-9 after an RBI double scored TJ Newman. Trenton Rowan stepped up and hit the walk-off single to right field to score Radtke as the Saints won 10-9 in the weekend's final game. 

Elias Herrera picked up the victory from the mound with 1.1 innings pitched zero earned runs and zero hits. Bo Jacob Garza started the game for Seward County, went three innings, and had three hits and two strikeouts.

Seward County will host Kirkwood on Saturday and Sunday in their second series of the year. Both days will start at 1 p.m. CT at Brent Gould Field.