Larks rally to win opener

6-7-04

By RANDY GONZALES

Hays Daily News

Different Larks.

Same magic.

The new-look Hays Larks opened their 2004 season Sunday in much the same way they have played for the last three summers.

Hays used some “Larks Magic” in a 6-5 come-from-behind win over the Colorado Sox at Larks Park.

The Larks rallied from a 4-0 deficit to score five runs in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead, then held on for the victory.

“That was good to see,” Hays manager Frank Leo said. “They looked like the Larks we've seen for the last three years. We got the same results.”

Hays has won the last three Jayhawk League titles, but the club lost several key players off last year's team.

The newcomers acquitted themselves well, as did the few veterans sprinkled in.

Right-hander Landon Harper, who is helping out a short-handed pitching staff before this week's baseball amateur draft, got the start and pitched effectively until he tired in the fifth. Colorado got a run in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk and two more in the fifth before Harper was lifted for right-hander Chris Ofat, the team's ace last summer.

Ofat gave up a run in 21Ú3 innings and Hays trailed 4-0 entering the bottom of the seventh.

Tyler Wasserman and J.C. Field led off the inning with singles to put runners on the corners. Luke Dreiling worked the count to 3-2 before drawing a walk against Sox starter Ben Buck, who until the seventh had shut out Hays on two hits.

Jason Pfeifer followed with a bases-loaded single off the pitcher's foot to score one run. Pfeifer's smash chased Buck, and pinch-hitter Seth Fortenberry greeted reliever J.W. Westhead with a run-scoring fielder's choice to make it 4-2.

With two outs, Warren Schaeffer doubled into the left-field corner to score two runs and tie the game at 4-4. That's when “Larks Magic” intervened. The Sox appeared to be out of the inning after Billy Sharp hit a hard grounder to first baseman Scott Landgraf. But the ball took a bad hop over Landgraf's head into right field, and Schaeffer scored the go-ahead run on Sharp's single.

Right-hander Joseph Edens took over for Ofat to start the eighth. The Sox got a pair of singles to put runners on first and second with two outs and had Bryan Cornish — who earlier in the game had doubled and singled and lined out to first — at the plate.

Leo went to the mound for a conference with Edens, and the Larks right-hander kept the ball away from Cornish on six straight pitches before finally retiring him on a grounder to second to end the threat.

“Edens did a fantastic job,” Leo said. “The left-hander (Cornish) was tough on us. He did a great job battling against that guy.”

Hays added a run in the eighth without a hit, with Gabe Marchant drawing a bases-loaded walk to make it 6-4.

Colorado threatened again in the ninth. Nick DiPaulo led off with a double and could only advance to third on Landgraf's double off the wall down the left-field line. Edens then hit a batter to load the bases with nobody out. Boone Bugger made the first out on a fly ball to short left field, with the runners holding. Pinch-hitter Brian Hassling followed with a fly ball to right deep enough to score DiPaulo and cut the lead to one run. Edens then caught Brian Obendorf looking at strike three to end the game.

Ofat (1-0) got the win, with Edens picking up the save, giving up a run on four hits in two innings. Harper allowed three runs on eight hits in 42Ú3 innings, with two walks and eight strikeouts.

Westhead took the loss for Colorado (6-2), giving up two runs on two hits in two innings. Buck allowed four runs on five hits in six-plus innings.

Hays (1-0) will continue nonconference action today with a 7 p.m. single game at the Salina Blue Jays. Right-hander Matt Rainey is the probable starter.

Larks Notes

Colorado had two runners thrown out at the plate, with Pfeifer in left field gunning down a runner in the second inning, and Sharp in right field doing the same in the sixth. ... Hays will open a 10-game home stand on Tuesday, the first five against Jayhawk League foe Elkhart. ... The Jayhawk League is down to five teams this summer after the Topeka Capitals folded in the offseason. The remaining teams are Hays, Elkhart, Liberal, El Dorado and Nevada, Mo.

Sports editor Randy Gonzales can be reached at (785) 628-1081, ext. 130, or by e-mail at rgonzales@dailynews.net.