HaysPost
SALINA – The HBC Hammer 16U baseball team claimed the championship of the Kansas Grand Slam tournament in Salina over the weekend with a 3-2 win over Millard North in the championship game Sunday at Dean Evans Stadium.
Millard pushed across the game’s first run on an RBI double, in the first inning off Hammer starter Trace Jacobs but after that Jacobs settled in. He allowed just two runs, one earned on five hits over five innings and picked up the win.
The Hammer scored a run on an error in the bottom of the second and then Cooper Johnson gave the lead when he drove in a run on a sacrifice bunt making it 2-1 Hammer.
Two batters later Jacobs drove in a run on a single to center putting Hays up 3-1.
Millard North added a run in the fifth but the Hammer held on for the 3-2 victory.
The Hammer got to the championship game Sunday with a 10-6 win over the Salina Drive.
Hays scored four runs in the sixth and five in the seventh as they rallied from a 5-1 deficit.
Ian McGuire was four-for-four with two RBI’s and scored two runs. Carter Graham and Cooper Johnson both collected three hits and scored twice in the game.
Graham earned the win allowing just one unearned run on one hit in two and a third innings pitched.
The 16U Hammer finished the tournament 5-1.