The Hays Eagles used a six run third inning in grabbing a 9-5 victory over Pittsburg in the AAA American Legion Championship in Manhattan on Saturday.  Hays led 1-0 after the first inning when Riley Kaus scored from second on a dropped fly ball on the infield.  Pittsburg led 2-0 in the bottom of the third where the Eagles fireworks began.

Austin Unrein led off the inning with triple, Casey Sebrook walked, and Riley Kaus single bring Unrein home to tie the game at 2.  Hayden Hutchison the loaded the bases with no out on a walk.  Pittsburg changed pitchers and the first pitch from VJ Piccini was lined into the outfield for a two rbi single.  Hays again loaded the bases and Unrein at bat for the second time in the inning hit a two out two run single.  Hays led 7-2 after three innings.

Pittsburg responded back with a run in the fourth and two in the fifth bring the score to 7-5.  Hays couldn’t score in the fourth through seventh innings.  Then in the bottom of the eighth, Jarrett Sanders beat out a throw to first base with two outs to load the bases and Zack Legleiter brought in two runs with a double giving the Eagles the final margin 9-5.

Josh Heifner(11-1) took the victory over five innings, giving up five runs on eight hits.  Layne Downing saw his first action of the tournament throwing three innings of one hit ball and Austin Unrein ended the game with a scoreless ninth.

Hays is 45-8.  Pittsburg falls to 32-15.

Hays for the first time in the tournament out it their opponent 14-10.  The Eagles had two errors and stranded eight runners.  Pittsburg had just the one fielding error leading to a first inning run and left 13 runners on base.

Hays moves on to the Mid-South Regional in New Orleans, LA to take on the Tennessee champion on August 9th.

Coach Brad Kelly:

Coach Brad Kelly

The Hays Monarchs capitalized on the only mistake that Hays or Pratt made in an elimination game on Saturday morning in Sabetha, 2-1 over two time defending champions Pratt. Shane Zimmerman threw just 83 pitches in the seven inning complete game performance. Zimmerman allowed just two hits and one run.

Dustin Schumacher Postgame Interview – Part 1
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Dustin Schumacher Postgame Interview – Part 2
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The game was tied at one into the bottom of the seventh when Nathan Zimmerman walked, Pierce Schippers singled, and Dylan Gottschalk walked to load the bases with nobody out to start the inning. Colby Schippers and Shane Zimmerman each struck out setting up potential heroics for Nick Hammeke. Hammeke fell behind 0-2 on the pitch count, but relief pitcher B.J. Dean threw a wild pitch to the back stop that allowed Nathan Zimmerman to score from third for the 2-1 victory.

Hays advances to the championship Saturday at 2pm. If they win, they will play a second championship game Sunday at 10am. The Monarchs lost 8-6 in nine innings to Iola Friday in a game that lasted just 1 hour an 22 minutes.

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.

Just like the NCAA basketball tournament, the motto with summer baseball is “survive and advance.”  The Hays Eagles did just that during the opening round of the American Legion AAA State Baseball Tournament in Manhattan on Wednesday, beating Winfield 8-6.  Ten game winner Josh Heifner gave up four runs on four hits in the first inning of the game over 44 pitches.  Hays though responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the first by Austin Unrein, Riley Kaus, and Hayden Hutchison.

Action head coach Andy Lewton Postgame Interview
Andy Lewton Post 8-1-12

Hays tied the game at four in the bottom of the second inning on a Hutchison sacrifice fly to score Casey Sedbrook.  Winfield regained the lead in the top of the third with back to back doubles and led 5-4 to the bottom of the fourth.

Hays plated two runs in the bottom of the fourth on RBI’s from Zack Legleiter and Trevor Henningson, giving the Eagles a lead they would not relinquish.

Heifner (11-1) settled in after the first to pitch seven innings allowing five runs on eight hits walking just three and striking out five.  Tyler Woolridge pitched a scoreless eighth.  Austin Unrein allowed a run in the ninth while earning his second save of the summer.  The save of the game though may have come from center fielder Dan Bittle.  Bittle threw out a Winfield runner trying to score from second in the ninth inning that left the game with two on and one out instead of bases loaded and no outs.

Hays is 42-8 on the summer.  Winfield falls to 19-10.

Notes: Hays will play Thursday at 5:00 against Newton who beat Salina 10-3… The Eagles did plate runs in the fifth and eighth innings as well… Winfield out hit Hays 13-6.  Winfield committed three errors while Hays had 2… Hays stranded 12 base runners while Winfield left 13 on… Hays was playing with out head coach Brad Kelly who was in Hays for the birth of his second son Brant.

The Hays Monarchs advanced in the winners bracket of the “AA” state tournament in Sabetha on Wednesday afternoon with an 8-7 come from behind win.

The Monarchs got on the board first in the second inning with an RBI single by Pierce Shippers. Beloit took the lead in the top half of the third, taking advantage of three walks in the inning, scoring four times to take a 4-1 lead. The Monarchs answered with two fourth. Bryan Brungardt and Nick Hammeke each drove in a two-out run to cut the Beloit lead to 4-3.

Then in the bottom of the fifth the Monarchs offense exploded for five runs in the inning. Nathan Zimmerman doubled home two, Colby Shippers followed that with an RBI double of his own and Bryan Brungardt drove in his second run of the game giving Hays the 8-4 lead. Beloi tplated three-runs on just one hit in their half of the sixth cutting the Monarchs lead to 8-7.

In the seventh Beloit got the first two runners on to begin the inning before Hays’ Nick Hammeke came in and slammed the door shut for his second save of the summer retiring three-straight to end the game.

Nathan Zimmerman turned in five plus innings, allowing six runs on five hits, struck out eight but walked six in the game. The Monarchs improved 18-11 and they will get the winner of the Ellis versus Silver Lake tomorrow at six o’clock in Sabetha. Our coverage will get underway at 5:45 tomorrow on 14-KAYS.

Victoria won the 61^st K-18 baseball state tournament last night with an 11-6 win over Osborne in Lucas. Victoria scored 34 runs in the three games of the tournament, never scoring fewer than 11 runs on their way to outscoring their opponents 34-8.

Victoria started the tournament, on Friday, with a 12-1 win over Concordia F&A. In the second round on Sunday Victoria earned an 11-1 win over the Beloit Red before defeating Osborne Tuesday night.

Hays 10-year old swimmer Isaac Smith will be competing in the Central Zone 14 & Under Age Group Championship Meet to be held August 3-5 in Columbus, Indiana after a good showing at the Missouri Valley Division I Championship Swim Meet in Lawrence in late July.

Smith finished 2nd in the 50 breaststroke (43.58) and was 3rd in the 100 breaststroke (1:39.82). He had an 8th place finish in the 50 freestyle (35.37) and a 9th place finish in the 100 butterfly (1:39.0).

Smith, who is a member of the Hays Hurricanes swim team, will compete against swimmers from Arkansas, Indiana, Lake Erie, Midwestern and Oklahoma at this weekend’s Central Zone. He’s one of only two swimmers from Western Kansas to qualify and compete at the meet.