The Hays Eagles are back to back state champions of the American Legion AAA State Tournament.

Hays took on Newton who advanced to the finals with a 18-12 win that took three and half hours.  Almost out of pitching and having played two games in the past 16 hours the Knights looked to piece together a win using a new pitcher every two innings.

Each Newton and Hays scored one run in the first inning.  Hays caught their first break in the bottom of the second inning.  With runners on second and third, Clayton Basgall laced a ground ball to the Newton short stop.  The ensuing throw sailed over the first base plating two Eagle runs.  Hays followed that up with two additional runs to lead 5-1 after two innings.

Newton responded with six consecutive singles in the top of the fourth to tie the game at five.  Hays scored two more in the bottom of the fourth take a 7-6 lead and never trailed again.  Newton pulled the score to 7-6 after five, but three more in the bottom of the sixth inning gave Hays their second four run lead at 10-6.

The Eagles went on for an 11-8 win and went a perfect 4-0 in the state tournament.  Hays had 14 hits, let by the three of Dan Bittel.  Bittel also plated a high three runs.  Chandler Rule was given an award for the highest batting average in the tournament, going 12-19.

Marcus Altman picks up the win going five innings and allowing six runs.  Brady Bieker earned the save with four innings of work allowing just two runs and five hits.

The Eagles advance to the Regional Tournament held at North Little Rock Arkansas starting on Thursday.  Hays will play the first game on Thursday at 9:30 against the state champion from Mississippi.

Postgame: Brad Kelly Postgame 8-3-13

Hays and Pittsburg played what will go down as one of the wildest State Legion games in recent memory.  Leading 1-0 through the first three innings, the Hays Eagles walked two batters and committed an error in the bottom of the fourth inning as Pittsburg took a 5-1 lead.  Pittsburg added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth increasing their lead to 7-1.

With the same score heading into the top of the 7th inning, the Hays bats finally came alive.  Clayton Basgall drove in Jake Sebrook and then a two rbi double by Layne Down cut the score down to 7-4.  The Eagles then re-took the lead in the top of the eighth inning on a two-rbi triple by Hayden Hutchison.  In the inning Hays scored six runs on four hits and were helped by two Pittsburg errors.

With Hays leading 10-7, it didn’t take long for Pittsburg to respond in the bottom of the eighth.  Pittsburg plated five runs on five singles to take a 12-10 lead.

But Hays would respond.  Jake Sedbrook led off the inning with a single and then moved to second on a sac bunt by Kyler Niernberger, his third of the night.  After a Clayton Basgall strike-out and two outs in the top of the ninth, Dan Bittel singled and scored Sedbrook.  Bittel then stole second base.  Down to their last strike Hutchison, lined a single into shallow left field.  Bittel had broke to third on the pitch and was able to score with no play at the plate tying the game up at 10.

Pittsburg got the winning runner on board in the bottom of the 9th but a double play and fly ball ended the frame.

Hays continued to swing a hot stick scoring six more in the top of the tenth and Pittsburg went three up three down to end the game 18-12.

Hays pounded out 23 hits, while Pittsburg had 16.

Hutchison picked up the win in relief of Basgall going six and third inning.  Pittsburg used five pitchers in the game.

Offensively Hutchison drove in six runs,  while Sedbrook scored four times and had four hits.  Basgall also scored four times and Bittle crossed the plate three times.

All told the teams combined for 397 pitches, 39 hits, 30 runs, 10 extra base hits, 7 pitchers, 107 plate appearance, in a game that took 3 hours and 35 minutes.

Hays advances to the championship game and play at 3:00 against the winner of the elimination game between Pittsburg and Newton at 12:00.

Postgame: Brad Kelly Postgame 8-2-13

Elimination Games

10 AM

Emporia v Arkansas City

Newton v Finney County to follow

 

Championship Bracket

5:00 PM

Pittsburg v Hays

(game to be heard on 96.9 KFIX)

 

8:30 PM

Winner of Emporia/Arkansas City v Winner of Newton v Finney County

 

Thursday Results

 

Elimination Games

Newton 6 Salina 3

Emporia 8 Leavenworth 5

 

Championship Bracket

Pittsburg 8 Arkansas City 5

Hays 16 Finney County 4 (8 innings)

 

 

 

Hays 16 Finney County 4 (8 innings)
The Hays Eagles and Pittsburg are the only remaining undefeated teams at the American Legion AAA State Tournament.

After a run-away win on Wednesday night, Hays trailed Finney County 2-0 after the first inning.  The Blues had only one hit, but took advantage of an Eagle error and walk to plate two runs.

Hays responded by scoring run in each of the next five innings to take a 11-4 lead after six innings, before ending the game one inning early 16-4.  The Eagles took the lead for good with a Chandler Rule RBI single in the top of the third inning.  Rule finished the night 5-6, scoring three runs and knocking two more in.  Rule led the 19 hit attack that left the Eagles as one of two remaining teams to be undefeated in the tournament.  Layne Downing and John Griffth each had three hits.

Kade Parker (5-2) threw a complete game four hitter, walking three and striking out nine.  After allowing two runs in the bottom of the first inning, Parker retired 13 consecutive batters.

Postgame: Coach Brad Kelly

Pittsburg 8 Arkansas City 5
Pittsburg and Hays will face off as the final two undefeated teams in the state tournament for a second consecutive year.

Pittsburg landed their bid into the game scoring three in the bottom of the sixth inning to take their first lead of the game.  Nate Grimaldi scored four runs for Pittsburg and Nicholas Cage picked up the win.  Arkansas City had their chance in the top of the ninth inning though.  With two outs Ark City drew two walks and had the tying run at the plate before Luke Marquardt came in to face one batter and earn the save.

Elimination games

Newton 6 Salina 3
Keil Stauffer pitched a complete nine inning game for Newton to keep their state tournament alive.  Newton was held to just six hits, but Gunnar Drinnen was able to score twice to lead the Knights to the victory.

Emporia 8 Leavenworth 5
Emporia staved off elimination by collecting 14 hits  against Leavenworth.  Braxton Marstall and Brady Baumgardner each scored two runs in the victory.  Tanner Boucher picked up the win.  Issac Hall earned the save.

The game schedule for day 2 at the American Legion AAA State Tournament at Larks Park will be as follows.

10am Newton vs. Salina (Elimination Game)
Emporia vs. Leavenworth to follow (Elimination Game) (to follow)
5pm Pittsburg vs. Arkansas City
Hays vs. Garden City to follow

Day 1 results
Game 1
Arkansas City 15
Newton 13

Game 2
Pittsburg 6
Salina 3

Game 3 (7 innings)
Garden City 11
Emporia 1

Game 4 (8 innings)
Hays 12
Leavenworth 2

The defending state champion Hays Eagles took all the drama out of the night cap last night at the AAA American Legion state tournament, scoring five runs in the first inning and defeating Leavenworth 12-2 in eight innings.

The Eagles added a run in the third, three in the fifth and three more in the eighth to end the game an inning early.

Clayton Basgall, Dan Bittel, and Hayden Hutchison all singled to start the game when the Eagles sent nine to the plate.

Layne Downing (6-2) threw 122 pitches over 7.1 innings to pick up the win, allowing two runs while striking out seven and walking three. Brady Bieker faced the last two batter in the eighth inning. Leavenworth managed just six hits on the night and had just three runners reach third base.

Hays had 13 hits, led by Bittel with three while Hutchison reached in four of his five at bats.  Every Eagle but two scored a run and all but one recorded at hit.

Coach Brad Kelly
Day one of the American Legion AAA State Baseball tournament wrapped up close to 11:00pm on Wednesday night, some twelve hours after the first of four games threw their first pitch.

Lightning and a little rain pushed back the start of the first game by about ten minutes between Arkansas City and Newton, but the real show was just about to start on the field.  The two teams combined for 28 runs on 33 hits, while the two teams left 20 more base runners stranded.  In the end Arkansas City advanced out of the first round with a 15-13 win.  The two teams used a total of seven pitchers and Tyler Sutherland for Arkansas City went 6-6 and scored five runs.

Game two featured the lowest scoring battle as Pittsburg beat Salina 6-3.  V.J. Pacini pitched a complete game for Pittsburg to pick up the victory.  Salina kept the game close despite allowing 17 hits.  Salina had nine hits, but left 10 runners on base.  Salina had a chance to rally for the win in the bottom of the 9th but came up short.

Garden City allowed just a single run to Emporia in the first round and quickly took care of business with an 11-1, seven inning victory.  Garden City scored three in the first, single runs in the second, fifth and seventh innings.  The big blow came in the sixth when Emporia gave up five runs.  Garden City’s Edgar Montoya went the full seven innings allowing just three hits, striking out six and walking two.