Hays Post Sports
HAYS - A pair of one run wins on Wednesday lifted the Hays High Indians to a 5A State Tournament berth.
Game 1: Hays 6, Salina South 5
Jalen Smith's bottom of the seventh inning single propelled Hays High to a victory in the semifinal round of the regional play with a 6-5 victory.
Neither team scored through the first three innings. Each team put a runner as far as third base in the third inning but didn't take advantage. Defensively, Hays cut down a runner at the plate on a squeeze play to keep the game scoreless. Landon Hardman led of the bottom of the third with a triple. He was left stranded there three batters later.
Hays broke through in the fourth inning with three runs. Trace Jacobs worked a one-out walk. Brett Rhoades drove him home with a single then moved to third on an Ian McGuire single. Both would scored on Hardman's second extra base hit of the game. His double gave the Indians a 3-0 advantage.
Carter Graham mashed his fourth homerun of the season in the next inning. A two run shot just inside the left field foul pole put the Indians ahead 5-0.
Hays would need all those runs. Three hits by South and two Hays errors put four runs on the board for the Cougars in the sixth. A triple in the top of the seventh drove in the tying run at 5-5. South had the go-ahead run at third base but couldn't execute a squeeze play that resulted in the runner being tagged out.
Three straight singles in the bottom of the seventh provided the walk-off for Hays. Bennett Smith led off the inning with a single in his first and only at-bat of the regional tournament. Johnny Cano added a bunt single. Jalen Smith's third hit of the game drove in Kaleb Roe, who was running for Bennett Smith, to decide the game.
Highlights
Graham threw 5 1/3 innings allowing four runs, none of which were earned. He struck out four, walked two, hit one batter and allowed five hits. The win went to Trace Jacobs (2-0) in relief. He allowed one run over 1 2/3 innings of work.
Game 2: Hays 2, Andover 1
Johnny Cano pitched a gem in just the second start of his career for the Hays High Indians. Cano threw a complete game in the 2-1 victory.
Hays struck early with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Cano led off with a single and scored on a Trace Jacobs single for the 1-0 lead. There would be no more scoring until the fifth inning.
Cano worked around a walk in the second inning and hit batter to lead off the third. Andover sat down nine straight Indians after the 1-0 lead.
The Trojans tied the game in the top of fifth. They used a pair of singles wrapped around a two-out walk to make the score 1-1. The Indians got the game winning run in the bottom of the inning in an unusual way.
It looked as if Hays was setting themselves up for a big inning. Ian McGuire and Karson Flaska led off the inning with singles. The Indians tried advance the runners with a bunt, but was thrown out at third. Kal Lonsdale recorded his first hit of the year with a single to right field.
The Indians initially were trying to score on the Lonsdale hit. The runners were sent back late and Hardman was thrown out scrambling back to second base. With runners at the corners, Lonsdale took a nonchalant stroll off of first base. The pitcher bent his back knee for a balk advancing Flaska home for what turned out to be the game winning run at a 2-1 score.
Highlights
Four of the final six outs by Andover were recorded by Ian McGuire tracking down fly balls from his centerfield position. Cam Sanders cut a runner down trying to steal second after Andover led of the sixth with a single. Cano recorded the other with his sixth strikeout, a career high.
Cano (5-1) need just 88 pitches to cover the seven innings. He allowed three hits, one run, walked two, hit one batter and struck out six.
Coach Dustin Dreher
Hays (18-8) will play in the 5A State Baseball Tournament for the first time since 2021. The quarterfinals games will begin on Thursday, May 29th.