Bee Jays Hold Off Foxes for 13th Straight Win

The Liberal Bee Jays had won 13 in a row after building leads of 6-1 and 8-3 before holding on to beat the Fort Collins Foxes 9-5 Saturday night at Brent Gould Field.

The Foxes plated a run in the first against starter Hunter Phillips.  Liberal scored two in the bottom of the first.  Taiga Sakuma singled to lead off the game.  Robert Orr singled home a run and Matt Cormier singled home a run for the 2-1 lead.  Kyzer Harrington lined the first pitch he saw as a B.J. to right for a double.  He scored on a double steal.  Liberal added three in the third.  Miller Durham singled.  With two outs, Matt Cormier singled him home.  Joel Roberts lofted a two run home run into the trees in left for the 6-1 lead.  Fort Collins plated two in the fourth on three hits and two errors to make it 6-3.  The Bee Jays scored two in the fourth to lead 8-3.  Taiga Sakuma doubled and Miller Durham hit a towering home run over the center field fence.  The Foxes scored two in the sixth to make it 8-5 .   The Bee Jays got an insurance run in the eighth when Joel Roberts line a double to left and scored on Taiga Sakuma pop fly double to center.

The B.J.’s out hit the Foxes 12-11.  Liberal had two errors and the Foxes had one.  Hunter Phillips got the win improving to 4-0 going six innings with five strikeouts and no walks.  Nate Lockwood worked a scoreless seventh.  Josh Doerr pitched two shutout innings for the save.  Taiga Sakuma was 3-5 with two doubles.  Miller Durham, Joel Roberts, and Matt Cormier were 2-4.

This ends Liberal’s streak of nine straight games scoring double digits.  Fort Collins is 14-12 overall and 9-10 in the Rocky Mountain.  Liberal is 17-2 overall and 16-2 in the Rocky Mountain.  The same two teams meet Sunday night at 7pm at Brent Gould Field with Dugout Show coverage at 6:45 on 1270 and 92.3.  Windtree Management is the buyout sponsor and will be giving away at 65″ TV with other prizes.