By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Obviously, Seaman baseball coach Trent Oliva would have preferred a sweep in Tuesday's home non-league doubleheader against city rival Washburn Rural.
Junior Cooper Hayes was the second-game starting pitcher and drove in the winning run in Tuesday's 3-2 Seaman win over Washburn Rural. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But after the Vikings fell to the Junior Blues in the opener and trailed with just two at bats remaining in the nightcap, a split looked pretty good to the Seaman coach.
Washburn Rural never trailed in the first game en route to an 8-4 win and led 2-1 through five and a half innings before Seaman tied the game with a run in the sixth and took a walkoff 3-2 win in the seventh.
The Vikings knotted the game on a perfectly executed squeeze bunt from junior Caeden Cooper in the sixth and then ended the game in the seventh on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly from junior Cooper Hayes.
Max Huston was hit by a pitch to open the seventh before David Dobbs moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt. After Axton Brewer was walked intentionally, Cale Rosenberger singled to load the bases before Hayes got the winning run home with a fly to center.
"We found a way to win and did some good things late -- Caeden Cooper getting the suicide squeeze down in the sixth and then in the seventh inning Max did a good job as the leadoff man getting on for us and then Dobbs getting a bunt down and forcing their hand to put Brewer on,'' Oliva said.
"Cale Rosenberger has two strikes and hits the ball hard up the middle and then Cooper Hayes has two strikes and battles and fouls three or four pitches off and is able to hit one deep enough to score Max from third. We did just enough and it's better than losing.''
Rosenberger, the Vikings' third pitcher in the game, picked up the pitching win as Seaman improved to 8-3 on the season.
Washburn Rural, now 4-3, took control early in the first game, scoring three runs in the first inning on four hits.
The Junior Blues went up 6-1 in the top of the fifth on a three-run home run from senior catcher Mitchell Rabb and took an 8-2 lead in the sixth on a two-run double from junior Drew Moore.
Junior Zach Farkas hit a two-run home run for Seaman in the sixth to account for the final score.
Junior Isaac Ansley went six innings to pick up the pitching win for Rural in the opener before sophomore Tyler Edmiston finished up.
GAME 1
WASHBURN RURAL 8, SEAMAN 4
Washburn Rural 300 032 0 — 8 10 1
Seaman 001 012 0 — 4 6 1
Ansley, Edmiston (7) and Rabb. Unruh, Colley (5) and Dobbs. W -- Ansley. L -- Unruh. 2B -- Washburn Rural: Miller, Moore. HR -- Washburn Rural: Rabb. Seaman: Farkas.
GAME 2
SEAMAN 3, WASHBURN RURAL 2
Washburn Rural 010 010 0 — 2 4 1
Seaman 100 001 1 — 3 5 0
Payne, Stafford (4), Edmiston (7) and Rabb. Hayes, Cushing (4), Rosenberger (6) and Dobbs, Moe. W — Rosenberger. L — Stafford.
Seaman softball sweeps Lansing
Seaman softball improved to 5-1 Tuesday with a home doubleheader sweep over United Kansas Conference foe Lansing.
The Vikings took a 4-2 win in the first game before rallying from an 8-3 deficit to take a 10-8 win in the nightcap.
