Bee Jays Win Fifth NBC Title

The Liberal Bee Jays won their 5th NBC World Series title 9-6 Friday night over the Seattle Studs at Lawrence Dumont Stadium in Wichita. Liberal wins a title making it five championships in five different decades. It was Liberal’s first NBC championship since 2000.

Liberal started strongly scoring three in the the third thanks in part to a three run homer by Joe Vaskas for his eighth of the year. Blake Bergeron also singled home a run.

Liberal made it 6-0 for starter Brandon Faulkner scoring three in the third when Konnoff bunted for a hit and a throwing error to first allowed a run to score before Richard Bohlken singled home two. The Studs (51-7) tied the game in the fourth when Kyle Boe hit a grand slam. Liberal regained the lead in the fifth when Vaskas led off with a double and scored later on a throwing error to home plate. Liberal tacked on two in the sixth when Blake Bergeron tripled home a run and Vaskas singled home the BJ’s 9th run. Vaskas was 4-5 with a homer and three RBI’s.

Faulkner pitched three and one third innings allowing five runs with five K’s before Tyler Sturges went two innings allowing one run. Tomas Cruz pitched three and one third innings of scoreless relief for his fifth save and struck out five.

Paul Gonzalez was 3-0 at the tournament and named the MVP and Leading Pitcher. Blake Bergeron, Joe Vaskas, and Edwin Arroyo were all tournament for the 38-14 Bee Jays. Twenty-six year old manager John Martin was named the Manager of the Year.