FHSU Athletics
HAYS, Kan. - The Fort Hays State baseball team picked up a pair of wins over East Central Friday afternoon inside Larks Park, winning a 2-0 pitcher's duel in the opener before rattling off 15 hits in a 13-3 run-rule win in the nightcap. FHSU improves to 4-2 on the year, while ECU dips to 0-6 so far this season.
Batting leadoff for the first time as a Tiger, Trey DeGarmo tied Sebastian Burgos for the team lead with four hits on the day. Fort Hays State pitchers struck out 15 batters across the two games.
Game 1: Fort Hays State 2, East Central 0
Front-line starter Ty Riley set the tone early with a 1-2-3 top of the first, the first of three times he would face retire the side in order in his 6.0 innings of work. Base hits from two of the first three FHSU hitters seemed to have the home team in business in the bottom of the first, but ECU starter Joel Hogan got out of the jam with a pair of flyouts.
Riley (2-0) continued to puzzle the ECU bats, with the returning first team All-MIAA pick allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out seven batters. He did not allow a runner to reach third base all afternoon.
Fort Hays State was able to break through on offense in the third when Cooper Howell led off with a single to right. A fielding error allowed the FHSU shortstop to advance to second before he came around to score on a base knock from DeGarmo.
The black and gold Tigers added a second run in the home half of the sixth when Burgos pulled a double down the left-field line to drive in Isaiah Ural.
Brandon Chavez came on in relief in the top of the seventh and proceeded to retire six in a row, including four strikeouts. ECU tried to mount a rally in the top of the ninth with a walk and a double, but a pair of ground balls, including one double play, completed the two-hit shutout for FHSU. Chavez picked up his second save of the season after allowing just two baserunners in 3 innings of work.
DeGarmo and Burgos both recorded two base hits in the narrow victory.
Game 2: Fort Hays State 13, East Central 3 (8 innings)
Cade Flaherty opened game two the same way as Riley did in the opener - by retiring the side in order. That was one of four times the senior faced the minimum in his 6.0 innings of work.
FHSU again stranded a pair in the bottom of the first, allowing ECU to strike first with two runs on three hits in the top of the second. The home team grabbed the lead in the bottom of the third when Ural drove in a pair with a triple down the first-base line. Tony Moore followed with a single through the right side, giving FHSU a 3-2 lead.
Fort Hays State added a run in the fourth on an RBI triple from Jose Cintron before Luis Ayala plated a run on a suicide squeeze in the home half of the fifth. FHSU continued to pour it on against the East Central bullpen with five runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth.
A three-run home run home run capped a two-out rally for FHSU in the seventh, with all five runs coming with two outs. After East Central tacked on one run in the top of the eighth, Elliott Herrmann led off the bottom of the inning with a double before the next two hitters were retired. Burgos started another two-out rally with an RBI single before Ayala worked a walk. Howell then walked it off with a two-RBI double.
Flaherty (1-0) surrendered two runs on five hits across 6 innings of work while striking out a pair without walking a batter. Kaleb Carpenter came on to earn his first save as a Tiger, allowing one run on two hits while striking out the pair in 2.0 innings of relief.
UP NEXT
The teams are scheduled to wrap up the series on Saturday with another doubleheader beginning at noon.