Larks see season end

8-11-04

By NICK McQUEEN

Hays Daily News

WICHITA — Frank Leo said that letting go is the hardest thing at the end of a baseball season.

Leo, in his 23rd year as manager of the Hays Larks, said goodbye to some of his players after the 2004 season came to a close Tuesday night at the National Baseball Congress World Series. Jayhawk League rival El Dorado capitalized on four Lark errors to take a 5-3 win in an elimination game at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

“I am not going to fault these guys,” Leo said of this year's club, which finished 30-15, second in the league standings and ninth in the World Series. “They've worked hard all year long. I'm proud of this club, considering the losses we had at the beginning of the year. It was a young club. We had a lot of new faces this year and we want to try and get some of them back.”

El Dorado (38-17), which ended a string of three straight league titles by Hays this summer, advances to tonight's game against Clarinda (Iowa).

With a two-run sixth inning, the Broncos took a 4-3 lead against Larks reliever Gilbert DeLaVara. Dwayne White led off the inning reaching first on an error by third baseman David Maroul, who joined the Larks for the season finale. After Jonathan Shackleford's single put White on third, White scored on an RBI single by Tad Reida. Shackleford went to third on the hit, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Morgan.

“We didn't execute tonight. Every time we made a mistake they capitalized,” Leo said. “We would walk the wrong guy, the leadoff hitter or get an error (at the wrong time). They capitalized and we couldn't do it. That was the name of the game.”

The Broncos added a run in the eighth on a wild pitch by DeLaVara, another Larks newcomer who took the loss. Schackleford reached first on an error by shortstop Warren Schaeffer and came around to score on the wild pitch.

“It was a leadoff error and wild pitch that scored it. That game is over with and the bottom line is they executed,” Leo said.

The Larks took a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning on an RBI double by Tyler Wasserman. J.C. Field had a two-run double in the fourth to tie the game. The Larks left 11 baserunners stranded, including leaving the bases loaded in the third.

“We needed a big hit to break it open,” Leo said. “We had a couple opportunities and couldn't get it done. I was really proud of the comeback we made. We were down two and our guys put the three-spot up to take the lead.”

The Larks put the tying run on base in the eighth, but a groundout by Billy Sharp ended the inning. Reliever Noah Booth, who was supposed to play for the Larks last season, retired the side in the ninth for the save.

“We battled them all year long. Every game has come down to who has made the mistakes,” Leo said.

The Larks were coming off a 15-inning marathon game which ended early Tuesday morning.

“It didn't really have an effect on us. I don't think we were that sluggish at all,” Leo said.

The game was played in front of what amounted to a home crowd for El Dorado.

“It's a learning experience. This is a different atmosphere,” Leo said. “There was some pressure because of our great tradition. We want to try and get some people back and continue the tradition. When you play for the title so much it's easy to get greedy. We've been in the title game and we feel like we should be there every year.”

Game notes

— Field, who drove home the winning run in the 15-inning game, had back-to-back hits against El Dorado and two RBIs, but struck out on his next at-bats attempting to bunt.

— Schaeffer had a three-hit game with one run scored. Aaron Batlle had his second straight multi-hit game, getting a single and a double and scoring a run.

— Larks starter Jeff Mandel went five innings, giving up four runs on six hits while striking out three. DeLaVara gave up three hits and one run with two strikeouts. El Dorado's Justin Costi picked up the win, going five innings.

Sports writer Nick McQueen can be reached at (785)628-1081, ext. 128 or by e-mail at nmcqueen@dailynes.net.