The Liberal Bee Jays won their sixth straight 4th of July Game in front of a big Brent Gould Field crowd Thursday night. The Dodge City A’s took a 6-2 lead before the B.J.’s rallied for a 12-7 win. It was Liberal’s 12th straight win.
The Bee Jays scored two in the second. Lane Snow and Matt Cormier singled and scored on multiple Dodge City errors. Dodge City tallied three in the third and three in the fourth on seven hits and four doubles to take a 6-2 lead. Liberal rallied in the fifth. Julius Rami7rez doubled home three runs with two outs after a diving attempt by the Dodge City second baseman on a fly ball to shallow right. That made the scored 6-5 after five. The Bee Jays scored four runs on two hits and two DC errors in the sixth. Ben Merriman hit an RBI single and Robert Orr popped an RBI double to center on a ball lost in the twilight of the evening. The B.J.’s led 9-6. The A’s chased home a seventh inning run to close the gap to 9-7. Liberal scored a run on two hits in the seventh. Julius Ramirez singled to lead off the inning. Elijah Batista wacked a double off the wall in left. James Nolan hit a sac fly. The Bee Jays added three more runs on two hits and two more A’s errors in the eighth. Taiga Sokuma hit an RBI single.
Robert Orr was Epic Touch Player of the Game going 3-5 with an RBI. Ben Merriman, Lane Snow, Matt Cormier, and Julius Ramirez added two hits a piece. Luke Steward replaced starter Parker King in the fourth and went three scoreless innings. Trevor Steele worked two innings with four strikeouts and one walks and Jason Davis closed it out with a scoreless ninth.
The temperatures were in the 70’s with the win blowing in. The game lasted over 3 and 1/2 hours.
Dodge City falls to 9-13 and 8-9 in the Rocky Mountain. Liberal is 16-2 and 15-2 in the Rocky Mountain. Liberal hosts Fort Collins Saturday night at 7pm with the Dugout Show at 6:45 on 1270 and 92.3. KSCB and The Legend is the buyout sponsors. There will be free food with hot dogs, chips, a drink, and a dessert for the first 100 fans.
