Bee Jays Stumble Past Haysville

It wasn’t the way manager John Martin drew it up, but he’ll take it. The Liberal Bee Jays are 5-0 at the NBC World Series for the first time since 2000 when they last won the event after a wild 11-10 win over the team who won their league, the Haysville Heat. Liberal won despite five errors. The Liberal pitching staff allowed just four earned runs.

Liberal built a 4-0 lead after two innings. Blake Bergeron and Joe Vaskas drove home runs in the first before Edwin Arroyo and Kelby Tomlinson added RBI’s in the second. Haysville scored three unanswered runs against starter Jamey Bradshaw in the third and two more unanswered runs in the fourth. Bradshaw was lifted after three and one third innings despite striking out seven and not allowing an earned run. The Bee Jays came back with three in the fourth buoyed by Bergeron’s two RBI single. The Heat scored another unearned run in the fifth to make it 7-6 BJ’s. The Heat scored three in the sixth to lead 9-7 but the BJ’s scored four in the bottom of the inning to lead 11-9. Vaskas had an RBI single and Mark Gomez tripled home two before a Kyle Borden sac fly made it 11-9 BJ’s. Brandon Faulkner pitched two and one third innings scoreless for the save.

Liberal is 36-13 while Haysville falls to 36-10. Liberal plays the winner of the Seattle Studs and San Diego Stars Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. on Talkradio 1270 and kscbnews.net. If Liberal wins, they advance to the NBC title game for the first time since 2000. If they lose, they will play with three other teams in the semifinals Thursday. Liberal wins their third straight game over the Heat.