Hays to play for title

By NICK McQUEEN

Hays Daily News

WICHITA — Ever since a 12-inning win over the Hays Larks, the Havasu (Ariz.) Heat baseball team has been absorbing blows thanks to allegations of roster violations before the start of the 73rd annual National Baseball Congress World Series.

Meanwhile, both the Heat and the Larks have been winning games on the field at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. The Heat stayed unbeaten while the Larks battled their way back through the elimination bracket after their loss.

It all sets up today’s championship round. Hays needs two wins today over Havasu to claim its first NBC title. The first game starts at 6 p.m., with the second game to follow, if necessary.

The Larks (40-18) reached the title round with a 2-0 win over the Crestwood (Ill.) Panthers on Saturday night in the finals of the elimination bracket. Right-hander Brock Nehls pitched a complete-game shutout and he got all the offense he needed with a two-run double by Rich Michalek in the seventh inning.

Hays manager Frank Leo compared his 2007 squad to the 2001 team, which finished runner-up to the Anchorage (Alaska) Glacier Pilots.

“That year, we had excellent baserunning and solid pitching,” said Leo, whose team will make its fourth appearance in the title game. “We didn’t have any standout stars, but the guys played well together and did all the little things.” 

Since the 11-7 extra-inning barnburner with the Heat on Monday, the Larks have won four straight games.

“We thought from the game we played that we were the two best teams in the tournament. This is a great matchup,” said Nehls, who moved to 7-1 on the season.

It has been the pitching that has gotten the job done for Hays and Saturday night was no different. Nehls, a Hays native and Emporia State University senior, made quick work of the Panthers, striking out 10 batters with one walk. He mimicked Thursday’s complete-game shutout of the powerful Seattle Studs by Kansas State right-hander Brad Hutt.

“I was just trying to come in and get strikes,” Nehls said. “The defense had a couple miscues, but played great behind me. We have a lot of trust and a lot of faith in each other.”

The Larks’ pitching staff has put up a tournament best 1.69 earned-run-average, while the Heat are in second place with a 2.38 ERA. Both teams have produced good offense, with the Heat gaining the upper hand. The Heat are batting .330 and have scored a tournament-high 57 runs.

Leo wasn’t sure on today’s first-game starter.

“We have a lot of guys available. We haven’t looked at who we are going to throw out there, but we have a lot of fresh arms,” Leo said.

In Saturday’s game, Michalek’s double was the difference. One of six Larks hits, Michalek’s double scored both catcher Ryan Lush and Tyler Barnett, who both reached on base hits.

Crestwood starter Tom Albano, a side-arming right-hander, made his first start and went 62â„3 innings before giving up the runs.

“The pitcher did a great job on me,” Michalek said. “He mixed things up a little bit. He threw a lot of offspeed stuff.”

Albano had six strikeouts and walked none before being lifted.

“We’ve faced a lot of guys like that this summer, but that was one of the tougher ones we’ve faced,” said Michalek, who was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

NBC Notes

— Before the start of Saturday’s game, Larks shortstop Mike Brownstein was honored as the stolen base champion for the tournament. Brownstein stole seven of Hays’ tournament-high 22 bases. Brownstein failed to get on base Saturday.

— Hays pitching coach Keith Harper was also mentioned before the game as the Larks were honored for the best ERA in the tourney. That was helped out by three shutouts in the tourney, and two complete games, one each for Nehls and Hutt.

— This will be the first title game appearance since 2001 for the Larks, who took second 2000, 2001 and 1995.

Hays 2, Crestwood 0

Crestwood 000 000 000 — 0 8 2

Hays (40-18) 000 000 20x — 2 6 1

Albano, Stubenhofer (7) and Stocker; Nehls and Lush. W — Nehls. L — Albano. 2B — Wyman, Crestwood; Michalek, Lush, Hays.