Saints Take Two at Redlands

EL RENO, Okla. – The Seward County Community College baseball team used a combination of strong pitching and timely hitting to sweep a twin bill at Redlands Community College, 3-0 and 8-3, on Sunday. The Saints evened their record to 5-5.

GAME ONE

Tanner King continued his impressive season by tossing a no-hit, complete game in the opener. King, who improved to 2-0 on the season, struck out a career-high 13 and walked three over shutout seven innings. In three starts this season, the righty from Canyon, Texas, has allowed just one run on four hits while striking out 30 over 19 innings.

Jose Caraballo gave Seward a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth on an RBI single and Cayde Ward put the game on ice with a two-run single in the seventh to account for the rest of the scoring. Cruz went 2-for-3 with a run scored and Benny Ayala added a double for Seward, which mustered seven hits in the game.

The closest the Cougars came to scoring was in the fourth when King walked two batters to put runners on first and second with two outs. King quelled the threat when he struck out Austin Dahlenburg.

GAME TWO

Benny Ayala and Ben Tsui each went deep to lead an eight-run, 11-hit attack for Seward in the second game.

Cruz Shope, KP Werner and Ayala each had two hits for the Saints, who had eight of its nine starters with a hit. Ayala had two RBI, Shope had a run-scoring triple and Werner had a pair of singles.

Jake Lombardelli (2-1) allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits, struck out seven and walked two over five innings to post the win. Cole Evans relieved Lombardelli in the sixth, gave up an unearned run, struck out two and walked two in one inning of work. Ryan Thomas pitched a perfect seventh to close the game.

The Saints snapped a 2-2 tie and broke the game open by scoring six runs over the final three innings. Wyatt Grant had an RBI single, Shope added an RBI triple and a Redlands allowed a run to score as Seward jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the top of the fifth. Tsui homered and Zane Alexander had an RBI double in a two-run sixth and Ayala added the final blow with a solo homer in the seventh.