Sean Finley’s eighth-inning homer boosts Larks to 3-0

Jun. 5, 2007

By MIKE KESSINGER

Hays Daily News

Before he even had stood in the batters box, Sean Finley faced a two pitch count.

Not that it mattered much. Three pitches into Finley’s first at bat of the game he was transformed into the Larks’ hero Monday evening as he blasted a grand slam over the right field fence to make it a four-run Hays advantage in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The defense did the rest from there keeping Denver from scoring a run in the ninth, assuring the Larks of a 9-5 win, and three game series sweep against the Cougars to open up the season.

“Right when it was hit I knew it had a chance,” said Larks’ shortstop Mike Brownstein who was intentionally walked two batters before Finley hit the eventual game-winning grand slam.

“The wind was blowing out a little bit, and he hit it in the right spot. It was a much-needed hit.”

Before Finley’s grand slam, Brownstein was the only Lark with an RBI in the team’s first five runs. Four of the runs were unearned.

“It’s bittersweet. It’s definitely a big win for us, it was a big shot by Sean Finley,” said Larks manager Frank Leo, who inserted Finley in as a pinch hitter with a 1-1 count after P.J. Leon suffered a wrist injury on a swing that prevented him from continuing his at-bat. “We don’t have that many extra players, and when one of your players goes down, you want to keep optimistic about his injury.

Back to Sean’s at-bat, he had been loosening up for a couple innings for a possible pinch hit. It happened at the right time.”

Before the Larks enjoyed the moments after Finley’s grand slam, they were just dealt the hand of trying to break away from the Cougars. Denver jumped out on Hays with the first two runs of the game in the second inning. In the third, Denver made it a 3-0 game when Aaron Phillips singled in Chris Juarez.

The Larks got their first run in the bottom of the third on an errant throw from second to home that allowed Rich Michalek to score. A bases loaded walk to Brownstein put the Larks down by a run an inning later when Kyle Curney crossed home plate. The run was followed by two more when a Tyler Burnett slap shot went off Denver second baseman Chad Gerald’s glove and into right field to make it a 4-3 game.

A Billy Mansfield RBI single tied the game for Denver (7-4) in the fifth. After Hays scored one run in their half of the fifth, the Cougars again knotted the score in the seventh.

“We battled,” Brownstein said. “Whenever they did something we answered back. Then that big hit. That grand slam really helped us out.”

The Larks Steve Mazur became the team’s second reliever at the start of the eighth inning, and the lone hit he gave up came in the ninth, which loaded the bases. Mazur got out of the jam by getting Phillips to hit into a double play ending the game. Mazur (1-0) picked up the win after starter Mark Tanner worked four innings, and Jarrad Watkins pitched three. Tanner gave up two hits and three runs for Hays (3-0). He had three strikeouts, but walked three.

“The whole series we walked a lot of hitters, and that’s something we have to fix,” Leo said. “You can’t do that. You can’t be putting yourself behind the eight ball every time, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Ten Larks had a hit as the team finished with 13.

Barnett, Rockey and Michalek each had two hits. Hays will travel to Junction City on Thursday for a 7 p.m. single game.

Sports reporter Mike Kessinger can be reached at (785)628-1081, Ext. 127, or by email at

mkessinger@dailynews.net.