Bohling’s Walk Off Leads Liberal to Win

There was early season pressure on the Liberal BeeJays Friday night as they opened their 2015 Jayhawk League home schedule against the Dodge City A’s at Brent Gould Field in Liberal. The BeeJays responded well to the pressure, getting a two out double in the 8th from catcher Troy LaBrie to tie the game and a walk-off single from second baseman Jeff Bohling to give them a 6-5 win over the A’s to even the two teams opening series at 1-1.

After winning the league opener Thursday in Dodge, the A’s didn’t waste any time getting things going on Friday in Liberal, getting back to back doubles to score a run to begin the game to grab an early 1-0 lead on the BeeJays.

Liberal responded in the 2nd, watching their first four hitters of the inning wrap base knocks, scoring tree runs to take a 3-1 lead.

The BeeJays added another run in the 3rd as Jeff Bohling led off the second straight inning with a hit and later scored on an RBI single from Brandon Rix over a drawn in infield to stretch their lead to 4-1.

Liberal’s bullpen was erratic in the 6th, allowing Dodge to load the bases without a hit and a wild pitch and a double later the bases were cleared and the A’s had themselves a 5-4 lead.

BeeJays reliever Grant Glaze came in from the bullpen and settled things down from there, tossing a scoreless 7th and 8th to keep it a one run game.

Liberal’s offense responded by tying the score up in the bottom of the 8th, getting a leadoff double by Bohling and a two out two bagger from his college teammate at Gonzaga Troy LaBrie to score him and make it a 5-5 game.

Glaze stranded a runner at third for the second straight inning in the top of the 9th to give the BeeJays a chance to win it in the bottom half.

Madison Foster singled with one out in the BeeJay 9th and moved to second on a Dodge City error. Still with one out in the inning first baseman Chase Chambers finished off a long at bat with a deep drive to right field, but with the wind blowing across the field, it was only good enough for Foster to tag and move to third with two outs. Next up for Liberal is exactly who they wanted to see at the plate, Bohling. In from the left side of the plate, the switch hitter battled Dodge pitcher Wilmer Nunez until he got something he could handle, lining a 2-2 pitch over the A’s second baseman for a single, scoring Foster from third to give the BeeJays a 6-5 walk off victory.

Bohling finished his best night as a BeeJay 4 for 5 with a pair of doubles, 3 runs scored, and the game winning RBI. Glaze earned the win on the mound for the BeeJays, going 3 solid innings of relief, allowing just 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4 to earn his first victory with the club.

Liberal improves to 5-2 with the win and evens its Jayhawk North record at 1-1 while Dodge City loses its first game of the year, dropping to 5-1 overall and 1-1 in league action.

In the other Jayhawk North battle, El Dorado beat Hays for the second straight night to grab an early 2-0 lead in their four game series.

The BeeJays and A’s will resume their four game split series Saturday at Cavalier Field in Dodge City where the teams will play a 7:00 first pitch before returning to Liberal Sunday to wrap the series at 7:00.

Roy Allen