By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Neither Washburn Rural or Seaman were able to open up any breathing room in the Centennial League baseball race in Friday's league showdown at Rural.
But neither the Junior Blues or Vikings did anything to hurt their title chances either, with the doubleheader split leaving Rural, Seaman and Manhattan all deadlocked atop the league standings at 8-2.
Washburn Rural, 8-5 overall, blasted the Vikings 12-1 in a five-inning first game, but 11-2 Seaman answered with a dominating performance of its own in the nightcap, taking an 8-1 victory.
Washburn Rural senior Carson Rosen delivers a pitch in the Junior Blues' 12-1 first-game win over Seaman Friday at Rural. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman senior Maclane Finley threw a two-hitter in Friday's 8-1 second-game win over Washburn Rural as the Vikings earned a doubleheader split. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
After a scoreless first inning in the opener, Rural took control, scoring two runs in the second and four runs in the third to open up a 6-0 advantage.
Seamn scored its only run of the game in the top of the fourth, but the Junior Blues answered with six runs in the bottom of the inning and ended the game after four and a half innings due to the 10-run spread rule.
Senior Carson Rosen went the distance for the pitching win, twirling a three-hitter and recording three strikeouts.
"After the first inning I thought Carson settled in and really pitched well and we got some big hits with people on base,'' Washburn Rural coach Jay Mastin said.
Rosen also delivered a two-run double while senior Robby Bolin had a home run and a triple and junior Ty Weber had a two-run double and three runs batted in overall and junior Adam Johnson had a run-scoring double.
Seaman senior Maclane Finley opened the game with a double and junior Bryson Vawter, who took the pitching loss, also doubled for the Vikings.
Nine-time state champion Seaman has rarely been run-ruled in its proud history and Viking coach Trent Oliva was obviously not pleased with his team's first-game performance.
"What I kind of told the guys is that, 'If you're not embarrassed you're in the wrong place,' '' Oliva said. "Obviously that doesn't happen very much and that is not our expectations and we just talked about what we needed to do to get better.
"Things didn't go right for us and credit Washburn Rural. They hit the ball hard and we didn't play well on the defensive side and it kind of snowballed on us.''
But M. Finley and the Vikings bounced back with a vengeance in the second game, with Finley throwing a two-hitter (no hits after the second) while recording five strikeouts and striking out the side in the bottom of the seventh.
The Vikings fell behind 1-0 in the first, but took control with four runs in the top of the second and added four runs in the fourth.
"That was kind of our between-game speech, that we had an opportunity to get back out there on the field and see what we're made of,'' Oliva said. "I thought it started with our guy on the mound, Mac. He was aggressive, in the zone, and had a few pitches working and then we were able to get some timely hits.''
Mastin said he wasn't surprised that Seaman bounced back with a strong performance after the first-game loss.
"We talked about that between games that Game 2 wasn't going to turn out like Game 1 did,'' Mastin said. "They came out strong and we just didn't have an answer at the plate.
"(Finley) was pretty efficient and we just couldn't string anything together and couldn't get any baserunners on.''
Seaman senior Aidan Polter, (22) who had a two-run double in Seaman's 8-1 second-game win, is congratulated by senior Casen Stallbaumer after scoring a run. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn Rural sophomore Kyle Walker is congratulated by the Junior Blues' batboy after scoring a run in Friday's doubleheader against Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Aidan Polter had a two-run double and three hits in the second game while Vawter stroked his second double of the day and sophomore Holden Finley also doubled for the Vikings.
Washburn Rural will be right back in action Saturday, completing a postponed game against Hays from earlier in the year.
First game
WASHBURN RURAL 12, SEAMAN 1
Seaman 000 10 -- 1 3 3
Washburn Rural 024 6x -- 12 11 0
W -- Rosen. L -- Vawter. 2B -- Seaman: M. Finley, Vawter. Washburn Rural: Weber, Rosen, Johnson. 3B -- Washburn Rural Bolin. HR -- Washburn Rural: Bolin.
Second game
SEAMAN 8, WASHBURN RURAL 1
Seaman 040 400 0 -- 8 9 0
Washburn Rural 100 000 0 -- 1 2 2
W -- M. Finley. L -- Sharshel. 2B -- Seaman: Polter, Vawter, H. Finley.
