Larks notes
August 12, 2003
By NICK SCHWIEN
Hays Daily News
VALUABLE ADDITION
Randy Curtis led the Hays Larks at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs. After Shawn Smarsh — another former Topeka Capital player this summer — doubled with one out in the third inning to drive in Aaron Batlle, Curtis followed with a double to left-center field to score Smarsh for a 2-1 lead.
“It’s just one at-bat at a time for me,” Curtis said. “I just have to stay back, that’s the biggest thing.”
But Hays manager Frank Leo considered his left fielder’s RBI single in the seventh his best at-bat of the night.
With two outs and Dan Schwartzbauer on third, Curtis worked a 1-2 count before fouling off three straight pitches. Then he took the next pitch to left field, just over the Nevada shortstop’s glove, to drive in Schwartzbauer.
“Randy Curtis had a great game for us, a couple RBIs and three hits,” Leo said. “His last at-bat really sticks out, battled with two strikes and kept fouling pitches off, then gets a clutch hit for a two-run cushion.”
ANOTHER REMATCH
Hays was to face Prairie Gravel (Ill.) in a 5 p.m. contest today at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. They are two of four unbeaten teams left in the double-elimination tournament.
The Larks’ 3-2 win Monday over Nevada (Mo.) was a measure of revenge for Hays after the Griffons claimed a 2-0 win last year to send Hays into the loser’s bracket. The Larks are 8-0 against Nevada this summer.
Prairie Gravel handed Hays a 6-4 loss to eliminate the Larks from the tourney last year.
“We’ve got a lot of the same personnel that we had, and I know they have a lot of the some personnel that they had,” Leo said. “It would be nice to kind of return the favor and stay in the winners’ bracket this time around. They’re a good, quality club. We have to have our ‘A’ game and be ready to play.”
TOURNEY STATS
— Hays was hitting .275 as a team before Monday’s game. The Larks went 8-for-33 (.242) against Nevada.
“We took advantage of the hits we had,” Leo said. “I thought we swung the bat real good, had a lot of loud outs. We left some people on base, but we also weren’t striking out with people on base. I thought we hit the ball hard.”
— Entering Monday’s action, Hays was the only team not to commit an error until a ninth-inning throwing miscue by third baseman Shawn Smarsh.
— Monday’s game took only 1 hour, 56 minutes.