TABOR COLLEGE: Baseball squad splits with St. Mary
Tabor baseball team bounces back for 9-6 win
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Give the Bluejays and coach John Sparks credit where it's due.
Splitting two games with an opponent is a little easier said than done.
Especially after getting shelled the first game like the Bluejays did Tuesday night against the St. Mary Spires in windy Hillsboro.
A team the Bluejays split with back in Leavenworth March 29, it looked every bit like the Spires' game was on the incline in a first-game 18-4 rout.
With only one clean sweep of an opponent this season, Tabor gathered itself for the finale to hold off the Spires 9-6.
"It's big for us right now," Sparks said of the split. "It puts us a game ahead of St. Mary for the last spot in the tournament. It's good to see us bounce back after having about everything go wrong in the first game.
"I thought we played a pretty solid baseball game the second game; It's good to see us do that, we needed it."
At least the Bluejays' senior group of Tyler Marsh, Casey Witt, Mark George, Jared Johnson, Tim Hein, Sean Bechtold, and Danny Douglass got one win in their final home appearance.
The Bluejays lift their record to 10-24 on the season and 6-10 in the KCAC.
Tabor was within smelling distance of the Spires in the opener, trailing 7-4 to close out the fourth inning.
Tabor went right through the floor to the bottom in the top half of the fifth with the Spires erupting for an 11-run explosion.
St. Mary utilized the 30 mile per hour south wind to send a trio of pitches over the fence.
"They got the ball up in the air and we didn't," said Sparks. "They hit a couple that on a calm day would be routine fly balls, but that's they way it is. They took advantage of it."
The Spires battered the Bluejays' pitching rotation, going through three pitchers by the time Mitch Harris closed out the inning.
Tabor never recovered from the catastrophic fifth.
Unlike they've been able to do for a fair share of the season, the Bluejays got off to a quick start in nightcap and actually held on.
A pair of run-scoring doubles by Keenan Morris and Chance Miles put Tabor ahead 2-0 to highlight the two-hit first inning.
Zavien Rivers nearly went the distance on the mound for Tabor, firing a five-hitter through six and third innings.
The Spires carved the lead in two with an RBI single in the top of the second.
Grant Brubacher shined in the nightcap going two for three, again putting the Bluejays ahead by two runs with an RBI single in the second.
Again St. Mary pulled to within a run on a bad throw to first base.
No more how much of a gap the Bluejays put between themselves and St. Mary, the Spires always managed to get a foot in the door when Tabor tried to slam it.
A four-hit four-run third inning fueled by Witt's RBI single wasn't enough, with the Bluejays' lead swelling to 7-2.
By the sixth inning, despite surrendering a trio of hits, Rivers was rattled.
Brubacher added a pair of insurance runs for Tabor in the bottom of the sixth, decking a two-run shot to left field.
With Rivers holding the Spires at bay for six innings, a 9-2 lead appeared to be stable enough.
But it wasn't as the Spires cut the lead to 9-4 with a one-out two-run double.
Rivers gave up one more run, an RBI single, before giving way to fireman Sean Bechtold.
Bechtold gave up the final run on a pick off attempt, but he earned the save with Rivers emerging as the victor.
"It's been a frustrating year," Sparks said. "But I told the guys we still control our own destiny and once you get into that tournament anything can happen.
"You win a couple of games then all of the sudden, you're in the championship."
The Bluejays face the remainder of the regular season schedule on the road.
Tabor travels Saturday to Salina before making a trip Wednesday to Wichita against the Friends Falcons, the only team the Bluejays have swept.
William Jewell
The clock on the Bluejays' season just can't seem to run fast enough.
Coming on strong late last season, the Bluejays went into 2003 with the hopes of building on last year's finish.
Instead, 2003 has been a catastrophe for Tabor and never before has last season's 15-29 mark looked so good.
Saturday's game in Hillsboro against William Jewell added more frustration to the Bluejays' season with the Cardinals whipping Tabor for a sweep.
Keep in mind the Bluejays pulled off a sweep March 8 in Liberty, Mo., beating the Cardinals in one game 8-7 but stumbling 9-2 in the other.
Either Tabor's game is plummeting or the Cardinals are that much better.
With as easy as William Jewell made it look Saturday as they throttled Tabor by a combined score of 44-17, the first could be the more susceptible answer.
Tabor's game bottomed out Saturday.
If being down 20-6 in the opener wasn't bad enough, getting nabbed at second base led to heated words and a tussle between a Tabor coach and player.
The dispute left the Bluejays' balloon mentally deflated for the second game as they got rocked 24-10.
