Larks win behind Ofat

6-10-04

By RANDY GONZALES

Hays Daily News

With all the new faces in town, it's nice to have a veteran around.

Right-hander Chris Ofat, the team's ace on last summer's Hays Larks baseball team, flashed his old form in Wednesday night's Jayhawk League game against Elkhart.

Ofat lost his chance for a shutout with three unearned runs in the ninth, but the Larks held on for a 4-3 win over the Dusters in both teams' league opener at Larks Park.

After eight shutout innings, Ofat gave up an RBI triple to Derek Chambers and a two-run homer to Andrew Leal after the Dusters started the rally in the ninth with a double error to open the inning.

Larks manager Frank Leo had left-hander Seth Fortenberry warming up in the bullpen, but he didn't want to use Fortenberry in a pressure situation in his first outing of the summer after a long layoff from the college season.

So, Leo stuck with a tiring Ofat, who ended the game after Leal's homer by getting Colt Crawford on a foul pop to third.

“Ofat has thrown 130 pitches before,” said Leo, who was confident his right-hander would be able to finish off the Dusters.

“A win's a win,” said Ofat, who hadn't pitched in three weeks, other than a relief outing in Sunday's season opener.

Ofat (2-0) used his fastball and curveball to mow down the Elkhart hitters, at one point in the middle innings retiring 12 batters in a row. Ofat finished with a five-hitter, walking two and striking out 11.

“It's a proven commodity,” Leo said of Ofat, who was 7-1 with a 1.23 earned-run average last summer with the Larks. “He showed signs of the old Chris Ofat in the middle innings.”

Offensively, Hays (4-0 overall, 1-0 Jayhawk) scratched out just enough runs to get by.

Hays scored two runs in the third off Elkhart starter Kevin Cone. Fortenberry had an RBI single in the inning and Billy Sharp's run-scoring groundout made it 2-0.

The Larks added a run with two out in the fifth. Warren Schaeffer and Aaron Batlle hit back-to-back singles, then Schaeffer scored on Nolan Remold's double.

Hays made it 4-0 in the seventh off Elkhart reliever Caleb Straudt. Fortenberry led off the inning with a single and went to second when Sharp was hit by a pitch. One out later, Batlle hit a bad-hop single to the first baseman to score Fortenberry.

Cone (1-1) took the loss for Elkhart (2-4, 0-1), giving up three runs on five hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out four.

Leo is expecting help to arrive for the short-handed Larks by the weekend. Ofat is more than happy to show the newcomers what “Larks magic” is all about.

“Just show them what the Larks' program is like, keep the winning tradition going,” Ofat said.

Hays and Elkhart will play a 6 p.m. league doubleheader today at Larks Park. The probable starters for Hays are right-handers Bob Reifschneider and Joseph Edens.

Larks Notes

Infielder Kade Boyer, who played in 26 games for the Larks last season, started at third base for Elkhart. Boyer went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

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