By BO ALLEGRUCCI
Salina Journal
HUTCHINSON -- Friends took three out of four from Bethany during the regular season, but the Swedes got their revenge Thursday in Hutchinson by taking the Falcons out of the NCAA Region 4 tournament with a 6-1 victory.
Bethany got its second complete-game pitching performance in as many nights, this one from senior Greg Byron, who scattered six hits and struck out five to improve to 10-1 on the season. Bryon allowed just three walks and one run while throwing an arm-numbing 147 pitches, but the senior from Toronto, Canada, would've thrown another 147 if he had to.
"My arm feels great right now," Byron said afterward as a teammate handed him his postgame ice pack. "This is what I've been waiting 20 years for ... you watch your pitch count and save your arm all season long for this tournament and this game, so you've just plan on throwing a complete game once you get here. You've got to want to go the distance at times like this if you're a pitcher."
Oddly enough, the day didn't start well for Byron, as Friends shortstop Austin Stading led off the bottom of the first with a double and scored on a Joe Thibault single to put the Falcons up 1-0. Friends had its chances early, collecting four of its six hits in its first two plate appearances, but the Falcons stranded 11 baserunners, and once Byron settled in, Friends was in trouble.
"These teams are going to come at you in this tournament, and I think I was just too anxious and had too much energy and emotion going at the start of the game," Byron said. "I was leaving the ball up early, but then I got my changeup going on both sides of the plate and that made a big difference. I was able to keep their hitters off-balance the rest of the way, and once the offense and defense got going behind me, I just took it and ran with it."
Bethany took a 2-1 in the top of the third after three consecutive base hits, beginning with Harold Holbert's one-out single and ending with Hop Sullivan's RBI-double to deep right-center. Danny Fernandez scored Holbert with a single in between, but the Swedes might've done more damage in the third had Stading not made a great diving stop-and-throw in the hole to get Eric Lehner leading off the inning.
Bethany right fielder Craig Barnes also made a pair of spectacular catches -- a diving, full-extension snag in the fifth and a flailing, over-the-head grab in the sixth¬ -- to keep the Swedes in the lead, and Bethany added two runs in the seventh to make it a 4-1 game.
Barnes then bopped a two-out, two-run double to deep left-center in the top of the ninth that put the game out of reach at 6-1.
"I owe Craig a couple dinners after the way he played today," Byron said.
Barnes finished 2-for-4 at the plate, while Sullivan and Fernandez also had two hits apiece and a run scored for the Swedes.
"We've got a lot of guys on this team who can get the job done, and I guess it was just my turn for a good day in the field and at the plate," Barnes said. "We haven't really played like we're capable of most of this season, but we're finally starting to play the way we know we can."
Friends put runners on first and third with one out in its final at-bat after two Swede errors, but Byron struck out two before inducing a harmless pop fly with his 147th pitch of the game.
©Salina Journal