By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
WICHITA – The Hays Larks entered Saturday’s NBC World Series title game having never won a championship in six prior tries, but they finally broke through, rallying from down three early to beat the defending champion Hutchinson Monarchs 7-3 Saturday at Eck Stadium in Wichita.
After a scoreless first inning, Hutchinson broke onto the scoreboard first, scoring three runs in the bottom of the second inning for a 3-0 lead.
But Larks starter Nolan Wilson was able to limit the damage to just three runs in the inning, stranding two and then he worked out of trouble again in the fourth before handing the ball to Aidn Schmidgall, the first of five relievers on the day for Hays.
Schmidgall, Matt Sapakoff, Adrian Najar, Dalton Campbell and Garrett Hicks combined for 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing just two hits, holding Hutchinson to just three total runs and allowing the Larks to slowly chip away at the deficit.
Down 3-0 through two innings, the Larks scored a run in the top of the third inning on a Kaleb Duncan sacrifice fly. Making it 3-1 Hutchinson.
The Larks scored another run in the fifth inning, when Duncan singled home Trent Baker making it 3-2 Monarchs.
In the eighth inning Wilbert Espinal, who had struggled in the tournament, broke out of a 5-for-23 slump with his first of two ground-rule doubles tying the game at three and then the next hitter Tabor Stokes singled home Espinal putting Hays up 4-3.
After a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth for Hutchinson the Larks took advantage of three straight walks to start the ninth inning and scored a run on a fielder’s choice and then Espinal doubled in two more putting Hays up 7-3.
Dalton Campbell earned the win, retiring the final out of the seventh and the first man in the eighth inning.
He then turned the game over the Garrett Hicks who recorded the five-out save and lifted the Larks to the 7-3 victory on the programs first NBC World Series title.
Espinal drove in three runs for Hays. He, Baker and Gruell each collected a pair of hits for the Larks.
Hays finishes the season 34-8.