HAYS – The Hays Senior Eagles American legion baseball team went 2-1 at the Wild West Fest tournament on Saturday in Hays, with their only loss coming in the semifinals.
Game 1: Hays Eagles 5, McCook, NE 4
In their first game of the day the Eagles had to rally from an early deficit on their way to a 5-4 win over McCook, Nebraska.
McCook opened the game with a two-run first inning.
The Eagles were able to push across a run in the bottom of the second inning on a Brady Kreutzer sacrifice fly.
The also added a run in the third when Palmer Hutchison walked with the bases loaded, tying the game at two.
McCook retook the lead at 3-2 in the fifth but Hays answered with a Cody Petersen RBI single in the bottom of the inning tying the game at three.
An RBI double in the top of the sixth inning gave McCook a 4-3 lead but the Eagles’ Dominic Bainter answered with two run double in the bottom of the inning helping the Eagles take the lead back for good on their way to the 5-4 win.
Trey Riggs earned the win with an inning and two-thirds of relief. He didn’t allow a hit and struck out all five batters he faced.
Game 2: Hays Eagles 10, Dodge City Seniors 7
The Hays Eagles scored five runs in the third inning as they rallied to win their second game of the day, 10-7 over the Dodge City Seniors.
Dodge City jumped out to an early lead, scoring three runs in the top of the first.
The Eagles answered right back in the bottom half of the inning, scoring three runs to tie the game at three.
After Dodge City pushed across two more in the top of the second, they had a 5-3 lead.
The Eagles offense answered in a big way in the third inning scoring five runs to give the Eagles an 8-5 lead, a lead they would never surrender.
Jamison Martin doubled in the first run of the inning for the Eagles. Brady Kreutzer followed that with a sacrifice fly to center tying the game at five. Then with two outs Cody Petersen doubled in two runs to put Hays up 7-5. They added one more on a passed ball and led 8-5.
The Eagles tacked on two more in the bottom of the fourth on a Dodge City error and a Dominic Bainter RBI double. Hays led 10-5 through four innings.
Dodge City added two in the fifth but Hays picked up the 10-7 win.
Kreutzer was two-for-two with two RBI’s. Petersen also drove in two runs.
Brock Lummus earned the win in relief. He allowed two runs on three hits and struck out two while walking four in two and a third innings.
Game 3: Wichita Astros 4, Hays Eagles 3
In the tournament semifinals the Wichita Astros held the Eagles to just three hits on their way to a 4-3 win.
Wichita scored two runs in the second inning and led 2-0 through two and a half innings.
The Eagles tied the game at two in the bottom of the inning, scoring on a wild pitch and a Trey Riggs sacrifice fly.
With the game tied at two Wichita plated two runs in the top of the fifth inning to take at 4-2 lead.
Hays got a single run in the bottom of the inning on a Palmer Hutchison RBI single but that was all the offense the Eagles could muster in a 4-3 loss.
William Sennett allowed four runs on eight hits while striking out one and walking three over five innings and suffered the loss.
With the loss the Eagles drop to 22-6 on the summer and will play the winner of the Wichita Tribe and the Dodge City 17U team Sunday morning at 10 a.m. at Hays High school.