Larks stay alive with 7-1 win
July 28, 2003
By The Hays Daily News
EL DORADO -- It's always important to get back into the groove once falling into the consolation bracket of a double-elimination tournament.
That's exactly what the Hays Larks did Sunday night against the Nevada (Mo.) Griffons. Hays' summer-collegiate baseball team walked away with a convincing 7-1 win to stay alive in the National Baseball Congress Midwest Regional at McDonald Park.
"The first game in the losers' bracket is always big to get back on the ground and get going again," said Hays manager Frank Leo, whose team suffered a 6-5 loss to the El Dorado Broncos Saturday night. "We didn't get a lot of hits, but we executed well on offense."
Hays will play the Springfield (Mo.) Slashers at 6 p.m. today in an elimination game. Andy Pape (4-1) is the probable starter. If the Larks win, they will play the Wichita Twins immediately folowing. Jim Popp (1-0) is the probable starter for the second game today, if necessary.
Against Nevada, Hays (38-9) got things rolling in the top of the first when Pete Maropis struck out but reached first on a passed ball, and Craig Cooper reached on an error by the second baseman. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch.
Maropis scored on another wild pitch with two outs. Aaron Batlle doubled down the left-field line to drive in Cooper for an early 2-0 lead.
Nevada (31-21) scored an unearned run in the bottom half of the inning to pull within 2-1.
Ben Tinius led off the second with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Mark Lyons. Dan Schwartzbauer later hit a two-out, two-run home run to right field -- his second of the season and second of his career with the Larks -- to give Hays a 4-1 lead.
Cooper led off the third with a solo blast to right -- his fifth of the summer -- giving Hays a 5-1 cushion.
"Danny's two-run homer was big," Leo said. "Then Cooper had the leadoff home run the next inning, which was big. It might not look like we made a lot of noise, but we got the hits when we needed to."
Single runs in the fifth and seventh capped the scoring for Hays as starter Ryan LaMotta did the rest. LaMotta (6-0) allowed no earned runs on six hits in 71/3 innings, with two walks and nine strikeouts.
"He settled in," Leo said. "The first inning, they got the run, and he didn't look the sharpest we've seen him. Then he settled in and threw up zeros for us."
Mike Snapp pitched the final 12/3 innings.