Liberal bats puzzle A’s
Dodge City, Ks (westernkansasnews)-In society, there are plenty of things we can figure out rather easily. Then there’s Liberal’s recent domination over Dodge City. The Bee Jays connected on two grand slams on Wednesday night to beat the A’s for the sixth time this season 10-5 at Cavalier Field. They now lead the season series 6-3.
As for run support-that definitely wasn’t a problem.
“That’s great,” Bee Jays starter Cody Tillotson said. “It rarely happens that you get that many hits and that many runs behind you; it’s easy to go out there and just fill it up.”
The Liberal hurler wasn’t perfect-he allowed two home runs, but he struck out nine Dodge City batters.
“My change up and my curve ball were definitely on,” Tillotson said. “Fastball and off-speed pitches were keeping them off balance.”
It also doesn’t hurt when your offense strikes for five runs in the 1st. With two outs and the bases loaded, Sam Pack drilled his second home-run of the season; a grand slam off A’s starter Ryan Petersen to give the Bee Jays a 5-0 lead. Liberal notched five hits in the first frame.
Peterson didn’t last very long after that. Liberal (19-16, 13-16) loaded the bases again in the 3rd when Tanner Kirk cleared the bases with a shot over the left-center field wall. That home run gave the Bee Jays a 10-3 advantage.
Kirk and Pack drove in nine of the 10 Bee-Jay runs.
Dodge City (8-19, 15-20) responded to Liberal’s big 1st inning with two home runs of their own: Dillon Englehart’s solo shot and Andrew Bynum’s two-run blast.
The A’s would tack on two more runs in fifth.
Next up: Dodge City at Liberal Thursday night at 7
