A’s fall to Hays in marathon game
Dodge City, KS(westernkansasnews.com) The Dodge City A’s four game winning streak came to an end Thursday night as they fell to the Hays Larks 17-11, in a game that lasted over four hours.
Hays(16-5, 10-4) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first on an RBI groundout by Devin Hager and an RBI single by Jared Martin. The A’s responded in the bottom half with an RBI double by David Gonzalez to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Larks exploded in the second with four runs, including a two run double by Wyatt Divis and an RBI single by Easton Kirk to stretch the lead to 6-1. The hot streak continued in the third inning thanks to a solo homer by John Rensel and a three-run homer from Ryne Randle to make it 10-1.
In the bottom of the third Dodge City(9-7, 7-7) roared back scoring eight runs to make it 10-9. The rally was thanks in big part to Conner Van Cleave, who had a double, single and four RBI in the inning. Dayton Cook also delivered a two RBI single.
The score remained 10-9 until the top of the seventh when Devin Hager added an RBI single and Kirk an RBI fielders choice, stretching the lead to 12-9 for Hays. The A’s would once again respond in the bottom half on an RBI single by Van Cleave and an RBI fielders choice from Blake Shinkle, cutting the deficit to 12-11.
From there it would be all Larks. In the eighth Kobly Robinson had an RBI sac-fly and Randle a one-run double. In the ninth Robinson came through again with a tw0-run double and Matt Munoz delivered an RBI single.
Anthony Villegas(0-2) got the loss for Dodge City pitching just 1.2 innings and allowing six earned runs. Carlos Tavera(3-0) got the win for Hays pitching two innings and giving up five earned runs. Between the two teams 11 pitchers threw on Wednesday night.
Ryne Randle led the Larks at the plate going 4-7 with a homerun, double, two singles and four RBI. Kolby added three RBI with a single and sac-fly. In his final game with the A’s Holcomb native Conner Van Cleave had a big night, going 4-6 with a double, three singles and five RBI. He, Blake Shinkle and Gabriel Sotomayor will return to Lawrence as the Jayhawks prepare to head to Taiwan on July 6 to represent the United States at the World University Baseball Championships. Van Cleave finished the summer going 1-0 on the mound in four games with a 5.89 ERA in 18.1 innings. He also hit .410 in 12 games with a homerun and 14 RBI.
The A’s are back in action Saturday at Liberal at 7 p.m. pregame coverage will begin at 6:45 on Super Hits 95.5 and swksradio.com.
