The Hays Larks made it a clean sweep over the Liberal Bee Jays with a 5-3 win Wednesday night at Larks Park in Hays. Liberal left 12 runners on base.
Liberal squandered early scoring opportunities. They had runners first and second with no outs and didn’t score in the first. They had a runner on second no outs in the second and did not score. Jack Ryan singled home a run in the third to give the Bee Jays the 1-0 lead. Liberal had two on and no outs and bases loaded one out in the fourth and score one run when Matt Bernath lined a sacrifice fly to center for the 2-0 lead in the fourth. Hays tied it 2-2 with a two run ho,e run to center in the bottom of the fourth. Liberal loaded the bases with one out in the fifth but scored only once. Larry Olivarez walked to score a run to give the B.J.’s a 3-2 lead. The Larks came right back with a home run to tie it 3-3 followed by two hits and a sac fly to lead 4-3. The Larks added an insurance run in the eighth to lead 5-3.
Both teams had eight hits. Hays committed to errors Liberal committed one error.
Matt Bernath was Epic Touch Player of the Game going 2-4 with a double and an RBI. Jack Ryan was 2-5. Carson Willis was 2-3. Ian Reid pitched five strong innings with six strikeouts. Braeden Whipple worked three innings with five strikeouts allowing one run.
Hays win their third straight Rocky Mountain title in a row improving to 25-4-1 and 17-4 in the Rocky Mountain. Liberal falls to 13-14 overall and 10-13 in the league. Liberal host the Dodge city A’s Friday night at 7 PM at Brent Gould Field. Host families will be recognized before the game. Awards will be handed out before the game. J and R Constructor’s Group is the buyouts sponsor. 6:45 pregame on 1270 and 92.3 FM.
