Broncos blank Larks, win title
July 30, 2003
By The Hays Daily News
EL DORADO — Frank Leo wasn’t overly upset that his Hays Larks baseball team finished second at the National Baseball Congress Midwest Regional Tuesday night after a 5-0 loss to the host El Dorado Broncos.
After all, the tournament was good preparation for the upcoming NBC World Series in Wichita — which begins this weekend.
Hays’ summer-collegiate baseball team finished the regional with a 5-2 overall record and would have had to win seven games in order to claim the crown. If the Larks would have won Tuesday’s title game with the Broncos, a second championship game would have been played to determine the winner in the double-elimination format.
“It was a great run,” Leo said. “It was a good tourney for us, almost like the World Series. We would have had to win seven games over a short period of time to win the tournament.
“ … It definitely took a lot out of us, but we competed well and lost a couple tough games, including the earlier one to El Dorado. … Maybe we ran out of gas a little bit, but it’s no excuse. We got beat by a good El Dorado team that played well.”
On Tuesday, the Larks thought they would be either the No. 4 or No. 8 seed, and open the World Series either on Sunday or Monday.
That has changed. Now, the Larks have to decide whether to take the No. 8 seed at the World Series — thanks to winning the Jayhawk League crown — or the No. 14 seed after the regional runner-up finish. But whatever the decision — which is expected to come later today — Leo said he now expects the team to play either Monday or Tuesday. Hays finished ninth at the World Series a year ago after back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2000 and 2001.
The Larks could have had an opportunity at a higher seed at the World Series if they had won the regional. But El Dorado took care of business early to claim the title.
Don Rogers gave the Broncos the early lead when he hit a two-run homer in the second inning against Hays starter Tommy Hottovy.
“We never really got into it,” said Leo, whose team was coming off a pair of victories Monday night that turned into early Tuesday morning — including a 14-inning marathon win over the Springfield (Mo.) Slashers. “(El Dorado) is a good club, and the long ball early gave them the lead. Then they just chipped away at us.”
Hays (40-10) loaded the bases with one out in the top of the third, but a strikeout and a lineout ended the threat.
“We had a chance in the third inning with the bases loaded,” Leo said. “If that ball goes through instead of being caught, we have a chance to make things interesting.”
Rusty Ryal drove in a run in the fourth with a one-out single to increase the Broncos’ lead to 3-0.
Hays had another chance to cut into the lead in the fifth. But with one out and runners at first and second, El Dorado got an inning-ending double play.
Drew Moffitt led off the sixth with a homer to left before J.R. DiMercurio drove in the second run of the inning with a single.
Hottovy (6-2) lost for only the second time in the past two seasons with Hays. He allowed five runs — four earned — on nine hits in 51/3 innings, with one walk and five strikeouts.
“He just wasn’t hitting his spots,” Leo said. “And they had two swings of the bat and two long balls. It was just one of those games where we weren’t on top of our game.”
Michael Gardner held El Dorado scoreless the final 22/3 innings, striking out two and allowing one hit.
Rusty Jones notched the victory for the Broncos. Jones scattered six hits in seven innings. He walked one and struck out four.
Jeff Bieker and Dan Schwartzbauer each went 2-for-2 at the plate for Hays, and Cody Ehlers was 2-for-4.