Leaky Liberal Defense Costly in Loss

Liberal committed five errors as the Bee Jays reached the low point of their season Saturday night in Great Bend. The Bee Jays allowed one earned run in the 8-3 loss Saturday night at Al Burns Field in Great Bend.

Sam Beattie went five innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. He allowed six runs but only one was earned. Tyler Tognarine tossed two scoreless innings. Derek Craft allowed two unearned runs in the eighth.

Great Bend scored three unearned runs in the first on two hits and three errors. They added two more unearned runs in the second after one error and two hits. Kyle Schmidt launched his third homer of the year to left in the third. Great Bend’s Peyton Barnes homered in the fourth for the only earned run allowed. That made it 6-1 Bat Cats. Liberal loaded the bases with no outs but only scored two runs. Gage Teer walked with the bases loaded and the other run scored on a double play. Liberal had first and third with one out in the sixth but hit into another double play. The Bat Cats scored two more runs on two errors and one hit.  Great Bend out hit the Bee Jays 12-7 and Liberal had five errors compared to Great Bend’s one.

Derby passes Liberal for first in the Jayhawk League. Derby is 23-9 while Liberal is 22-10. Hays is 21-9 and Dodge City is 20-10. The Bee Jays have lost four of the last five. Great Bend is 16-16. Liberal plays at Great Bend Sunday night at 7 on 1270 and kscbnews.net.