Scott City baseball outlasts Hugoton
Garden City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Scott City and Hugoton had the final game of the day on Monday in the Class 3A Regional baseball tournament at Williams Stadium in Garden City. It would be a long wait to get going, due to the previous games lasting longer than expected. After getting going after 9:45 pm, Scott City scored at least two runs in their four at bats, as they advanced to play on Tuesday with a 13-2 sin over the Eagles in the regional opener late Monday night.
The Beavers plated three runs in the bottom of the first inning and batted around, as Aaron Ruelas capped the scoring with a RBI single that scored JP Harris to make it 3-0 after an inning. Harris would add to Scott City’s lead in the bottom of the second with a two-run home run over the left field wall to make it 5-0 Beavers, and they scored two more in the inning on a fielder’s choice to push their lead to 7-0. Hugoton got on the board in the top of the third with a Zevin Littell RBI ground out that scored Adam Mendoza to pull the Eagles to within 7-1. However, back to back RBI singles by Lawson Bailey and Aaron Ruelas with two outs pushed the Beaver lead to 9-1. Scott City would score their final seven runs of the game with two outs. Harris would drive in two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to make it 11-1, and Bailey followed up with a two-run single to make the score 13-1. The Eagles had one final chance in the fifth, as they saw Kaden Jackson drive home a run, but left the bases loaded in the fifth, as Scott City advances to Tuesday with a 13-2 win.
As planned entering the game, it would be pitching by committee for the Beavers, as JP Harris threw 25 pitches in one-and-a-third innings, giving up two hits with two strikeouts. Brady Welker got the win in relief, going one-and-two-thirds innings, giving up a run on three hits. In total, Scott City used four pitchers and kept all arms eligible for Tuesday. JP Harris had two hits and drove in six runs for the Beavers, while Lawson Bailey had three hits and three RBI, while Aaron Ruelas had three hits and two RBI.
Zevin Littell took the loss, giving up 10 runs, six earned, on seven hits and had nine strikeouts, but had seven walks in less than four innings pitched. Gavin Williams had two hits for the Eagles.
Scott City improved to 12-7 with the win, and will face Holcomb Tuesday afternoon in Garden City. Holcomb scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to pick up an 8-6 win. The first semi-final game will feature Lakin and Goodland at 3 pm. Goodland shut out Southwestern Heights 7-0, while Lakin scored six runs in the top of the seventh to stun Cimarron/Ingalls 7-2 Monday afternoon.
Coach David Dirks Postgame
