Larks win third straight league crown
July 15, 2003
By NICK SCHWIEN
Hays Daily News
Dan Schwartzbauer hadn’t hit a home run this season.
He didn’t hit one deep last year as well while playing for the Hays Larks.
Nor did the 5-foot-11, 170-pounder from Duquesne — who’s more noted for his stellar defensive play at shortstop — get to trot around the bases three years ago for Hays’ summer-collegiate baseball team.
All that changed Monday night, as Schwartzbauer hit his first career homer as a Lark.
Hays ran over the visiting Topeka Capitals with an 18-4 win in a Jayhawk League game shortened to seven innings at Larks Park. The victory secured Hays’ third straight Jayhawk crown and the third in franchise history. The title also earned the Larks an automatic bid in this year’s National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita in early August.
It was also the second run-rule win for Hays in less than a week. The Larks pounded the Elkhart Dusters 14-0 in seven innings last Wednesday.
“I wasn’t trying to do anything different,” said Schwartzbauer of his homer. He finished the game 5-for-5 with three runs scored, an RBI, and two stolen bases.
“I just knew it was important that everyone hits. It was impressive how the guys responded.”
So much for that slump the Larks were in offensively. Entering the game, Hays had managed only 17 hits in its last four games. Monday night, the Larks finished with 21 hits — including at least one by every starter — and every player that had an at-bat reached base in one form or another.
“They really loosened up tonight,” said Hays manager Frank Leo, who couldn’t remember being a part of a run-rule league game in his 22 years of managing the team, until this summer. “I know Topeka was down a little bit in pitching, but we beat a Topeka ball club that was coming in here having won seven in a row. We laid it on the line tonight and said, ‘Hey, destiny is in our hands tonight. If we play good, the three-peat is yours.’ The guys responded, and that was good to see. They rose to the challenge.”
Things were going so well for the Larks that when one lucky fan was given an opportunity to win a steak dinner a week for a full year courtesy of Montana Mike’s, the winning ticket holder — Delbert Branson of Ellis — had Keith Harper, the father of Hays pitcher Landon Harper, throw at a strike zone for him.
Harper painted the corner on two pitches and breezed another right down the middle for three consecutive strikes and the entire steak package, which the two men split at 26 apiece.
Things were just that easy Monday night.
“Everybody’s frustrations got out tonight,” said third baseman Ben Tinius, who crushed a pair of two-run homers while going 3-for-5 with four RBIs. “Everyone was frustrated, and we needed this to come out of our shell and get the league title.”
Perhaps the Larks’ slump on offense was about as bad as Tiger Woods’ was on the golf links.
But the Larks put it all together Monday to win another league title. The victory improved the Larks’ overall record to 29-6, including a 20-5 showing in the league. That’s the club’s best record after 35 games in the last three years.
After Topeka (18-16 overall, 8-12 Jayhawk) took the lead after a two-run home run by Kyle Wilson in the top of the first, it was all Hays.
Schwartzbauer led off the bottom of the first with his homer that just cleared the right-field fence, pulling the Larks within 2-1. After Hays starter Ryan LaMotta held Topeka scoreless the next two innings, the Larks exploded for eight runs on nine hits and two Topeka errors — part of eight total by the Capitals — in the third. That outburst lifted Hays to a 9-2 lead and the rout was on.
“We took extra (batting practice) on our off day, and we usually don’t do that,” said Schwartzbauer, who’s been part of all three league titles. “I think maybe we’ve only done that once or twice in the three years that I’ve been here. Hopefully that kicked in for us.”
After Cody Ehlers tied the game at 2-2 with an RBI single, Jeff Bieker drove in the go-ahead runs with a bases-loaded triple that cleared the bags, giving Hays a 5-2 lead. Bieker would later score on a wild pitch before Tinius unloaded his first home run of the game, a shot to right-center field, for two more runs. Pete Maropis added an RBI single later in the inning.
Hays added two more runs in the fourth to lead 11-2.
LaMotta gave up two runs in the fifth as Topeka crawled within 11-4.
But Hays tacked on another run in its half of the fifth, then six more in the sixth — including another two-run homer by Tinius, this one well over the big wall in left-center field.
“Every team has a little down time in the season,” said Tinius, who raised his average 20 points to .273. “We showed we were a good team by only having a couple bad games. Some teams have two weeks, the whole season, whatever. We have a couple bad days, then we regroup and get back after it. That’s a sign of a good team.”
Craig Cooper, Adam Cox, Ehlers, Bieker, Tinius and Schwartzbauer all finished with multiple hits.
“We’re on a high right now,” said Schwartzbauer, who had his first five-hit game of his Larks career to raise his average 37 points to .320. “It doesn’t get much better. We hit the ball like we needed to. It’s a good feeling.
“It was a good feeling last year (to win the second league title), and most of us three-year guys wanted to get that third. Anything less would have been unacceptable.”
The 21 hits were a season-high, and the 18 runs tied a season-high as the Larks clinched the title in impressive fashion.
“If you’ve been in this league long, you know how hard it is to win a title,” Leo said. “To win three in a row and have that consistency, it’s a tribute to the kids and how they come out in the summer time. They understand the tradition and want to be a part of that tradition.”
LaMotta (5-0), a right-hander from Baylor who allowed just one hit in last week’s run-rule win against Elkhart, gave up four runs on nine hits in the complete-game outing. He walked one and struck out two while throwing 85 pitches. He joined Tommy Hottovy, Landon Harper and Chris Ofat as five-game winners this summer.
“He got kind of overshadowed,” Leo said. “It’s hard to pitch once you get a big lead like that. After the two-run home run, he settled in pretty good. I thought he did a nice job for us.”
Hays will host the El Dorado Broncos for a 7:30 p.m. single league game today at Larks Park. Hottovy (5-0) is the probable starter.
Nex-Tech, tonight’s game sponsor, will be giving out gift packages to the first 100 fans through the gate. The packages will consist of a cup, candy, sunflower seeds and other items. Nex-Tech will also be giving away five sports bottles filled with candy; two, one-month subscriptions for free internet service; two caller-ID boxes; five t-shirts and one computer joystick.
— On the Net:
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