2008 KCAC Baseball Tournament Recaps
By: Andy Brockman, KWU Sports Information

Day one of the 2008 KCAC Baseball Tournament is in the books from Lindsborg, as the action shifts to Friday's contests in Salina beginning at 11 a.m. at Dean Evans Stadium.

Game one:  Bethany 5, Sterling 4

Bethany won the opening game of the 2008 KCAC conference tournament 5-4 over Sterling.  Bethany took an early 4-1 lead but allowed Sterling to score three in the 8th inning to tie it up.  Justin Long then came up huge by singling in Hop Sullivan in the bottom of ninth to win the game.

Both teams hit the ball well all day, with Bethany getting fourteen hits while Sterling pounded out ten, but the pitchers didn’t allow many runners to score and a lot of players were left stranded on the bases. 

Justin Long pitched 7.1 innings for Bethany, giving up four runs on nine hits while striking out eight and walking four.  Dustin Vaughn then came in and pitched the remaining 1.2 innings and gave up no runs on one hit to pick up the win for the Swedes.

Brett Ormiston went the distance for Sterling, pitching 8.2 innings and giving up five runs on fourteen hits while striking out one and walking one. 

Hop Sullivan and Joel Sundquist led the way for Bethany with three hits, while Holbert Harold and Justin Long each added two.

Matt Elliot and Murri Lazaroff-Babin each had two hits apiece for Sterling. 

Game two: Saint Mary 5, Ottawa 4 (10 innings)

Both team’s hitters started hot but were quickly cooled for the rest of the game by excellent pitching by both teams and the game was forced to go into extra innings.  Ottawa walked in a run in the top of the tenth and was held scoreless in the bottom of the inning to give St. Mary the one run victory.

USM’s starting pitcher, John Bromell, dug down deep and pitched all ten innings to pick up the win.  He allowed four runs on seven hits while striking out four and walking one. 

Eric Cordell pitched all nine of the regular innings, and pitched the beginning of the tenth but ran into trouble.  He gave up five runs on ten hits while striking out seven and walking two.  Will Koeneman would finish the tenth inning, giving up one hit and striking out two and walking two.

Ottawa’s Blake Burks had an outstanding day at the plate, getting four hits in four at-bats while knocking in two RBI’s as well.  Tony Hurla added three hits.

Dustin Smith, Cody Newman, Tim Martin, and Stephen Maurin all had two hits for Ottawa.