GARDEN CITY – The HBC Hammer 18U baseball team split their doubleheader with the Garden City Blues Tuesday night at Clint Lightner Field. The Blues used a couple of big innings to take the opener 12-5 but the Hammer pulled away late and won the nightcap 8-1.
The Hammer is now 6-5 on the season. They will play at a wood bat tournament in Topeka starting Friday night.
Game 1: Garden City 12, Hays 5
The Blues scored five in the second and seven in the third in a game called after six innings due to time limit.
Tied 5-5, Hays walked three-straight Garden City batters to open the bottom of the third. The Blues followed it up up with three straight hits to blow the game open.
The Hammer walked six and hit a batter in the decisive fourth inning.
Hays had taken the early 2-0 lead in the first. Tyson Jimenez opened the game with a triple to right field and scored on a Garrett Wellbrock single. Bradyn Dreher drove in Wellbrock with a one-out single to left.
The Hammer scored three runs with two outs in the third to tie the game 5-5. Bradyn Dreher drove in the first run on a groundout. The other two runs scored on a Carson Spray single and Jack Fields double.
Tyson Jimenez and Garrett Wellbrock each had two of the Hammer’s nine hits. Bradyn Dreher drove in two runs.
Dreher (0-1) allowed seven runs on four hits with four walks and no strikeouts in 2/3 inning of relief.
Game 2: Hays 8, Garden City 1
The Hammer broke open a one-run game
with six runs in the top of the sixth. Jack Fields started the rally when he
was hit by a pitch with one out. He scored on a double off the bat of Lex Lummus.
With two outs, Gage Porter drove in a run with a double to left. After two
walks and two hit batters drove in two more runs, Carson Spray closed out the
scoring with a single to left.
Three Hammer pitchers combined to hold to Blues to two hits. Starter Carson Spray went three scoreless innings with four strikeouts and two walks. Garrett Wellbrock (3-1) allowed one unearned run in two hitless innings of relief and gets the win. Dalton Dale got the final three outs.
Tyson Jimenez, Carson Spray and Lex Lummas each had two of the Hammer’s nine hits
16U and 15U Hammer Split with Great Bend
The Braves scored four runs in the fourth and beat the 16U 5-4. Hays (6-3) scored a run in the bottom of the fourth then added another in the sixth and had the tying run on in the seventh but a double play and strikeout ended the comeback bid.
The 15U Hammer (6-4) scored three in the third and three in the fourth and won 8-2. Jonathan Cano and Landon Hardman both had two hits. Hardman drove in four runs.