By Dustin Armbruster
Hays Post Sports
HAYS - Hays High hosted Rock Creek in their home opener for the 2026 season.
Game 1
Rock Creek 6 - Hays 2
A four run sixth inning for Rock Creek gave the Mustangs a lead that Hays could never recover from in a 6-2 final.
Each team scored a single run in the first inning. Kal Lonsdale scored for Hays in the bottom of the first after reaching on an error. Jace Dreher recorded his first career high and RBI with a single to shallow left field to tie the game at one.
Brett Rhoades found a groove on the mound for the next three innings. He struck out four of his career high eight in that stretch and sat down ten of the eleven batters he faced.
Hays took their first lead of the season in the bottom of the third. Kaleb Roe led off the inning with a walk and then stole two bases to end up on third. Rhoades drove him in with a sacrifice fly to center field and a 2-1 lead.
Hays had an error in the field in each the fifth and sixth inning. The visiting Mustangs took advantage. A sacrifice fly in the fifth tied the game at two and then a four run sixth inning gave Rock Creek the lead for good.
The visitors sent ten to the plate in the four-run inning. A one-out error played a pivotal role. Rock Creek also recorded three hits, walked twice and was hit by a pitch in the inning.
Trailing 6-2 Hays couldn't scratch across any more runs. They did get runners to second and third in the sixth inning on a Paxton Shaw single and Beau Dreiling hit-by-pitch.
Rhoades (0-2) took the loss. He lasted 5.2 innings, striking out a career high eight, walking three, hitting three batters and giving up seven hits. Three of the five runs allowed with him pitching were earned. Paxton Shaw and Jakob Sloan each pitched in relief.
Highlights
Game 2
Rock Creek 10 - Hays 7
The first five batters of the game scored for Rock Creek in a 10-7 victory over Hays in game two.
Hays (0-4) allowed the five runs on four hits, one hit batter and a walk. The Indians though didn't help their own cause with a pair of first inning errors in the 5-0 early deficit.
Hays got one of the runs back in the bottom of the first. Kal Lonsdale and Kaleb Roe led off the inning with back-to-back singles. A Paxton Shaw sacrifice fly to centerfield brought the score to 5-1.
Rock Creek (2-0) added single runs in the top half of the third and fourth innings for a 7-1 advantage. Hays scored the first of two, three run innings in the game in the bottom of the fourth.
Brett Rhoades led off with a single followed by a Shaw walk. The two stole a base to get into score position. Jace Dreher notched his second run scoring single of the day for a 7-2 game. Bennet Smith followed with his own RBI single and Cade Jennings lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to score a run at 7-4.
Highlights
Hays though gave back all of those runs in the top of the fifth inning to trail 10-4.
The Indians made one last push in the bottom of the seventh thanks to a pair of Mustang errors. Lonsdale, Roe and Shaw all scored in the final half inning but it wasn't enough in the 10-7 loss.
Coach Dustin Dreher
Cade Jennings (0-1) took the loss working four innings. He allowed nine hits and seven runs, just three of those were earned. Beau Dreiling made his varsity debut pitching and Paxton Shaw pitched for a second time on the day.
Hays returns to action next Tuesday when they begin Western Athletic Conference play with a single game in Great Bend.