An Unlucky 13th for Bee Jays

The El Dorado Broncos outlasted the Liberal Bee Jays 9-8 in 13 innings Saturday night at McDonald Stadium in El Dorado. The Bee Jays trailed 8-6 before scoring two in the ninth to tie it.

Liberal scored two in the first. Cisco’s Alec Isaac blasted a lead off home run over the left field wall for his second of the season. Nicholls State’s Seth Stevens singled home UTA’s Darrien McLemore. El Dorado scored one in the first and tied the game with one in the third.

The Bee Jays regained the lead with two in the fourth. Lubbock Christian’s Tanner Rainey and Grayson’s Zach Reding both reached and stole bases before scoring to make it 4-2. El Dorado scored one in the bottom of the fourth against starter Austin King who lasted four innings but left with a 4-3 lead.

Seward lefty Hayden Howard’s first Bee Jay appearance was marred by bad luck. The Broncos had three straight infield singles to begin the bottom of the fifth. They scored four to take a 7-4 lead in front of a big McDonald Stadium crowd.

Liberal plated two in the seventh to creep closer at 7-6. Isaac doubled home a run and Cowley’s Dylan Delso lined a sacrifice fly to left. El Dorado added insurance in the bottom of the seventh to lead 8-6.

The BJ’s scored two in the ninth to tie it thanks to a pair of Bronco walks. South Dakota State’s Sam Pack grounded an infield single to deep short to tie the game.

UTA’s Chad Nack took control in relief. He pitched five and two-thirds with six strikeouts and retired 14 in a rows at one point. But the BJ’s struck out nine times in extra innings and the Broncos scored in the 13th. Johnny Coen reached on an error at short and Thomas Clay doubled off the wall in right to score the winning run.

liberal is 8-5 overall and 4-5 in the Jayhawk while El Dorado is 7-4 and 5-4 in the Jayhawk. The teams meet Sunday night at 7 in El Dorado on 1270 and kscbnews.net.