Scott City baseball falls in regional semis

Clay Center, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–The Scott City baseball team made the trip to Clay Center for the Class 4A Regional Tournament on Tuesday afternoon. Their semi-final opponent would be the Circle Thunderbirds. It would be a close game that the Beavers led for most of the afternoon, but the Thunderbirds rallied for five runs in the final two innings to take a 7-4 win.

Scott City got on the board first in the bottom of the second inning, as Emilio Contreras and Trey Ryan would collect RBI singles to put the Beavers up 2-0. Circle rallied for a run in the third and fourth to tie the game at two. In the fifth, Scott City responded with two runs to put them up 4-2, thanks to a two-run single by Spencer Cramer. Unfortunately, their lead would be short-lived. In the sixth inning, the Thunderbirds rallied for three runs to take their first lead at 5-4, and added two more runs in the seventh to take a 7-4 win, advancing them to the regional championship.

Brady Welker went 5 1/3 innings, giving up four runs, two earned, on five hits with seven strikeouts. Welker finished with 88 strikeouts this season, which gives him the single-season school record for strikeouts. Spencer Cramer had three hits and two RBI for the Beavers.

Scott City saw their eight-game win streak come to an end, as they finished the season at 13-6. Brady Welker, Carson Batterton and Aaron Armendariz closed out their senior seasons for the Beavers. 

Circle would win the regional championship, as they upended regional host Clay Center 3-1 in the championship game. They will head to state with a 17-11 record.