WICHITA – Grant Schmidt hit a three-home run in the first and Cade Brown and Wyatt Divis combined on a five-hitter to lead the Hays Larks to an 8-1 victory over the Seattle Studs late Wednesday night at the NBC World Series at Riverfront Stadium. The Larks (32-7) win their first game in the losers bracket and advanced to Wednesday’s quarterfinals where they will plat the Cheney Diamond Dawgs in the late game around 8:30 p.m.
Cheney advanced with a 10-8 victory over Sunflower League rival Great Bend in Wednesday’s first game.
Schmidt gave the Larks all of the offense they would need with a three-run homer in the bottom of the first after Cortland Lawson singled and Wyatt Divis walked.
The Studs (30-18) scored a run in the top of the second but left the bases loaded when Kade Brown struck out Kyle Strash to end the inning. Seattle would have only three baserunners the rest of the game and only one advanced past first base.
Brady Evans opened the bottom of the second with a double and scored on Zach Henry’s bunt.
Hays added some insurance with three in the sixth then another run in the seventh. Palmer Hutchinson opened the sixth with a walk then Brady Evans was hit by a pitch. After Seattle made a pitching change, Leo Jiminian laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. Matt Cavanagh then singled to center with a drawn in infield and drove in two runs. Lawson would add an RBI single to push the lead to 7-1.
Palmer Hutchison singled with one out in the seventh and scored on Evans base hit to close out the scoring.
Wyatt Divis (6-1) pitched the final 4 1/3 innings and picked up the win. He retired 12 straight before issuing a two-out walk in the top of the ninth, but got a popup to end the game. Divis struck out four and walked just the one and didn’t give up a hit.
Starter Cade Brown went 4 2/3 innings and allowed one run on five hits with four strikeouts and two walks before leaving with arm discomfort.
Lawson, Schmidt and Evans all had two hits. Schmidt drove in three runs while Matt Cavanagh had two RBIs.
FINAL FOUR
The NBC World Series in down to four teams. Defending champion Santa Barbara will play Lonestar Baseball out of Texas in a battle of the unbeatens at 6:00 p.m. Thursday followed by the Larks and Cheney Diamond Dawgs.