Larks take advantage of errors

8-3-04

By NABIL SHAHEEN

Hays Daily News

In nine innings of play, the Greenwood (Miss.) Vikings had as many errors as the Hays Larks had hits.

That resulted in a 7-3 win for Hays (28-13) in the feature game Monday night at the National Baseball Congress World Series at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in Wichita.

“It's a very fortunate situation for us,” Hays manager Frank Leo said. “They gave us some opportunities, no doubt about it. We took advantage of that and that's what you need to do.”

Leo added two new players to his roster prior to the start of the game. David Maroul played third base for the Larks on Monday. Maroul plays at the University of Texas and played summer ball in Beatrice, Neb.

Also added to the roster was pitcher Gilbert DeLaVera, who was scheduled to be with the team but had a sudden death in the family and is expected to join the Larks by Sunday.

Infielder Kevin Russo, the Larks' leading hitter on the season, isn't with the club in Wichita due to an illness in the family.

Bob Reifschneider (5-2) took the hill for the Larks, making his eighth start of the season.

Pulled in the seventh inning, he finished with six strikeouts, three walks, and five hits, yielding one earned run. Three relievers — Joseph Edens, Matt Rainey and Stephen Marek — finished up for the Larks.

“He wasn't as sharp as he is, it takes him a few innings to settle in and get adjusted,” Leo said. “If he didn't labor so much, he could have gone eight innings. But he did a good job of keeping us in that game.”

Nolan Reimold got things going for the Larks with a solo home run, his 10th of the season, in the fourth inning.

“The home run was early in the game but it was a big hit for us,” Leo said. “We're down 1-0 and he comes back and ties it up for us. They had to string a few things together to get their runs. That's a big momentum switch when the other team has to do a lot to get runs, and we get it in one swing.”

Reimold also had a double in the fifth, but that was later reversed and credited as Greenwood shortstop Brooks Tinsley's fourth of five errors in the game.

The Larks had a four-run sixth inning that was more a result of poor Viking defense than great Larks offense.

Jim McCullough, who replaced Tinsley at shortstop for Greenwood, bobbled a ball hit by Tyler Wasserman that resulted in runners on first and second. The next batter, Warren Schaeffer, bunted his way to first and loaded the bases. J.C. Field walked, which brought in a run. Hunter Mense followed with a single to center field for another RBI. Then Viking first baseman Wyn Diggs dropped what was a catchable foul ball popup, keeping Billy Sharp's at-bat alive. Sharp had a two-RBI single the very next swing.

“If they give you something, you've got to take advantage of it,” Leo said. “With the World Series atmosphere, it's going to be quick innings and you have to take advantage. That happened in that sixth inning and that's why we exploded. Billy sharp, he battled, he fought, he got new life and then regrouped and got a base hit up the middle.”

Sports writer Nabil Shaheen can be reached at (785) 628-1081, ext. 127, or by e-mail at nshaheen@dailynews.net.