Bee Jays Rally Past Stars for NBC Win

Down 6-0, the Liberal Bee Jays rallied for an 11-7 win over the San Diego Stars Sunday evening at Eck Stadium in Wichita.  Liberal is now 1-1 at the 90th NBC.

For a second straight game, Liberal got off to a rough start.  San Diego scored four in the second and two in the third.  The B.J.’s got things going in the fifth with five runs with two outs.  Joe Roberts doubled and Tommy Molina was hit by a pitch.  With two outs, Ben Merriman lined an RBI single to right.  Miller Durham lined a two RBI single to center.  Robert Orr cranked a two run home run to center for his 11th home run of the season.  That made the score 6-5 Stars in the fifth.  Liberal claimed their first lead of the NBC in the seventh.  Lane Snow slapped a single to left to tie the game.  Ryota Kusumoto grounded a single through the right side to give Liberal a 7-6 lead.  The Stars scored a run in the eighth after a triple and a wild pitch.  That tied the game at 7-7.  The Bee Jays broke the game open in the ninth.  Julius Ramirez walked and Joel Roberts singled.  Tommy Molina reached on catcher’s interference to load the bases with one out.  Kyzer Harrington ripped a three RBI double to left center on a ball dropped by the left fielder.  Ben Merriman singled and Miller Durham singled to left to make it 11-7.

Liberal out-hit the Stars 17-9.  Liberal’s bullpen stepped up big time.  After six runs scored against starter Hunter Phillips,  the bullpen allowed Liberal’s comeback to have life.  Josh Doerr pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts.  Rylan Figueroa went three innings allowing one run and striking out six.  Logan Wade worked a scoreless ninth.

Offensively, Joel Roberts was 3-4 with two doubles.  Miller Durham was 3-6 with three RBI’s.  Lane Snow, Ryota Kusumoto, Kyzer Harrington, Ben Merriman, and Robert Orr had two hits a piece.

San Diego is 14-9 and Liberal is 25-8.  It’s Liberal’s 203rd NBC win.  The Bee Jays play the Boulder Collegians Tuesday night at 8:30 on 1270 and 92.3.