Larks return home after good road trip
July 7, 2003
By The Hays Daily News
WICHITA -- The road trip might have started on a sour note.
But overall, the Hays Larks ended it with a good taste.
Hays' summer-collegiate baseball team ended a seven-game trip with a 7-6 nonleague win over the Wichita Braves Sunday night. The Larks finished 5-2 on the trip.
On Saturday, the Wichita Twins edged Hays 7-6 to snap a four-game winning streak by the Larks.
"It was a big win for us," Hays manager Frank Leo said. "The Braves and Twins are both good teams, and we were playing at their place. We got off to a good start, then had enough to hold on."
Hays (23-4) scored three runs in the first inning -- including a two-run home run by Cody Ehlers -- to build an early lead. It was Ehlers' eighth homer of the summer, and his third in as many games.
The Braves answered in the bottom of the first when Brian James tied the game with a three-run homer.
Wichita added a run in the third to take a 4-3 lead.
But Hays struck for two runs in the fourth to retake the lead.
Jeff Bieker led off the inning with a walk and scored on Jerod Goodale's two-run homer to left with one out.
"He stepped up big for us," Leo said of Goodale, who also threw out a runner trying to steal in the bottom of the ninth after a leadoff single. "He also had a big throw for us that helped us late in the game. Those were both big plays for us. They kind of helped us turn the tide."
Right-hander Bryan Engle got the victory. Engle (2-1) allowed four earned runs on three hits in 52/3 innings, with six walks and three strikeouts.
Ryan LaMotta got the final five outs to earn his first save. LaMotta allowed one hit, with one walk and one strikeout.
Ehlers went 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs, and Adam Cox also went 2-for-4, with a run scored and an RBI. Danny Schwartzbauer added two hits, scored a run and drove in one.
Hays, which leads the Jayhawk League with a 14-3 record, will host the Topeka Capitals in a 6 p.m. doubleheader today at Larks Park. The Capitals are last in the league standings.
Landon Harper (4-0) and Chris Ofat (2-0) are the probable starters for the Larks.