Hawks clipped: Salina team falls to 2-1 in A Division

By ARNE GREEN

Salina Journal

A second lightning strike in as many nights did not end nearly as well for the Salina Hawks.

The Hawks, who came back from Friday night's lightning delay to beat Olathe East for their second Kansas Grand Slam victory, saw the second one result in a loss.

Salina, 2-0 at the start of the day, ran into a solid Kansas City Varsity team Saturday night and trailed 8-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning at James Matson Field when a thunderstorm forced officials to clear the field. After first planning to pick the game up this morning, tournament organizers called it an official game, awarding the victory to Kansas City.

The Hawks and K.C. Varsity were the only unbeaten teams left pool A of the junior division tournament heading into the game.

K.C. Varsity, now 2-0, nicked Salina starter Cory Ensz for three runs in the first inning and chased him with a five-run second. Ensz, whose spectacular relief performance saved the Olathe East game the previous night, allowed seven runs -- five earned -- on six hits in 1 1/3 innings before giving way to Matt Reyna.

Bryan Rezin led off the bottom of the first with a double and scored the opening run on a passed ball as K.C. Varsity sent eight men to the plate. Nick Cavlovic and Dylan Puhr also had RBI singles.

The Varsity added five runs on five hits in the second, including doubles by Rezin, Taran Carlisle and Jackson Wagner. Carlisle and Wagner each drove in two runs with theirs.

K.C. starter Matt Woolley shut the Hawks out on two hits through the first three innings before they struck back with three in the top of the fourth.

Jackson Rolfs led off with a double and scored on Scott Lyon's RBI single. Vince Froome, who drew a one-out walk, ca me home on Jordan Jerkovich's sacrifice fly and Lyon scored on a wild pitch.

K.C. Varsity had runners at second and third with two out in the bottom of the fourth when the game was halted.

The Hawks, 2-1, complete their pool play at 7 tonight against the Great Bend Braves at Dean Evans Stadium. The top two teams in each of the two pools advance to the semifinals on Sunday morning with a chance to play in the 1 p.m. championship.

Hawks 6, Olathe East 3

In Thursday's late game at Dean Evans Field, Ensz came on to pitch out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh inning to preserve the Hawks' pool play victory over Olathe East.

Pitching, defense and timely hitting, which helped the Hawks to a victory over Manhattan Pro Copy in their tournament debut earlier in the day, again made the difference against Olathe East.

The Hawks managed just three hits against Olathe pitchers Byerley and Brady Heidrick, but took advantage of three walks, three hit batters and six errors to score five unearned runs.

Meanwhile, the Hawks defense produced three double plays behind winning pitcher Froome. And when Froome walked the first two batters in the seventh and Olathe loaded the bases on the only Salina error, Ensz came in and slammed the door.

Ensz struck out the first two batters looking, then got the final out on a grounder to shortstop.

Offensively, six different players scored for the Hawks, with Chance Thomason's single in the fourth inning providing the only two runs batted in.

Join the Discussion:

Salina.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here. Read our full online terms of service policy.

Post a comment
Your best chance of getting your comment posted:

• No profanity
• Be civil
• Everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

Comment:

Poster:

Enter text seen above:

Read our full use policy.