Stranded Runners Hurt Frogs;

PHS Baseball Lose 8-7 and 13-4 to Larned

by Dennis Gonzales & The Pratt Tribune

April 17, 2008

Twenty-three Greenbacks did not find their way home Tuesday at Green Sports Complex. Those left on base helped account for the Pratt High School varsity baseball team's 8-7 and 13-4 losses to Larned.

"We just left so many guys on base and that is not like us," said PHS head coach Pat Stivers. "We usually attack the zone and are good situational hitters. We just didn't get it done."

A PHS sweep would have given the Greenbacks the 2008 Mid-State Activities Association title outright. A split would have ensured a share of the title if Larned lost one of their final four conference games.

The losses drop PHS to 4-2 in the MSAA with a doubleheader at Scott City remaining. There is a chance the Greenbacks can win the title if they sweep Scott City and Larned, now 4-0, loses three of their four remaining conference games.

"There is nobody to blame, but ourselves," said Stivers of the stranded base runners and inability to clinch the title. "We had a great opportunity to walk away with the league title - at least co-title - all we had to do was split. We didn't get it done. We just have to keep working."

Larned's Augie Morton delivered the key hit in game one.

With one out and two Indians on in the top of the seventh and Larned down 6-4, he and Pratt pitcher Stuart Sullivan faced a 3-2 count.

Sullivan delivered and Morton cracked a long fly over the left-field fence, jumping Larned on top 8-6.

Sullivan's fielder choice in Pratt's last at-bat, brought home Chris Nicholson who had led off with a single.

Larned's Garrett Vratil then forced Chase Galle to fly out, ending the game.

"I thought in the bottom of the seventh we would come back," said Stivers. "That is one thing we have done all year. We have done a great job battling and getting ourselves back into ballgames. We did it again tonight, but we couldn't do it a second time in the seventh."

Caleb Gillig's two-run, sixth-inning single between short and third erased a 5-4 PHS deficit.

Five straight Larned walks helped set up Gillig's go-ahead single.

The Greenbacks entered the inning down 5-2.

PHS stranded 14 base runners and loaded the bases in the fourth with one out, but failed to score.

Sullivan went the distance. He allowed 10 hits, did not walk a batter, and struck out four.

"I thought Stuart pitched a good game and still had good velocity in the last inning," said Stivers.

A strong northerly wind carried the ball in left throughout the doubleheader.

Stivers felt the wind depleted the right-hander's fastball by five miles per hour.

Skylar Angood went 2 for 3, including a solo home run in the second inning. Sullivan recorded three RBIs.

Larned pounced quickly in game two, building a 3-0 lead in the first then tacking on three more in the second and four in the third. The barrage resulted in a 10-3 advantage thanks to 10 base hits. The final four innings, Angood in relief, held the Indians to three runs and four hits.

Chase Galle's RBI triple and Angood's solo home run accounted for two of Pratt's three runs.

The Greenbacks left nine runners on base and were eliminated by strikes 12 times.

It is disappointing," said Stivers. "I can see in the guys' faces they're disappointed. I told them we didn't obtain our first goal, which was to win league. Our second (goal) is to win the regional. That is what we're going to try to do now."

PHS, 8-4 overall, is at Scott City Friday, April 18.