The Hays Eagles used a dominant pitching performance from Austin Unrein to advance at the American Legion AAA tournament in Manhattan on Thursday by winning over Newton 8-1.  Hays led 2-1 after the first inning when Unrein retired 13 of the next 14 batters.

Brad Kelly Postgame Interview
Brad Kelly Newton Post

Game Highlights
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Hays scored single runs in the third, fourth, and sixth innings to take a 5-1 lead.  Newton got two aboard with nobody out in the bottom of the sixth but failed to score.  The Eagles then scored three in the top of the seventh to blow the game open.

Unrein struck out 13 batters over eight innings of work in his ninth win of the summer.  Hays recorded eight hits while leaving ten runners on board.  Newton got only three hits and committed three errors.

Hays is now 43-8 on the season and will play in the semi-finals against either Manhattan or Pittsburg on Friday.  The game was in progress at the posting of this story.  Newton drops to 26-16 and will play Leavenworth in a elimination game at ten on Friday morning.  Salina eliminated Winfield and Leavenworth eliminated Easton in the morning session.