Dorado Powers Saints to Sweep

The Seward County Saints finished off a much needed sweep of the visiting Pratt Beavers Sunday afternoon at Brent Gould Field in Liberal, getting a seven hit, seven RBI day from Antonio Dorado to knock off Pratt 17-7 and 9-8 in come from behind fashion to even up their Jayhawk West record at 6-6 on the year.

Coming off of a frustrating day Saturday, Pratt came out swinging in game three of the series on Sunday afternoon. The Beavers ripped three hits, plating two runs in the top half of the 1st, to take an early 2-0 lead on the Saints.

Seward answered with a nice start of their own in the bottom half of the frame, getting three straight RBI knocks from Antonio Dorado, Judah Sweat, and Chad Kennedy to quickly take their first lead of the game at 3-2. They weren’t done there as Jared Ledbetter lifted a sacrifice fly to score Sweat and Kennedy scored on a passed ball to give the Saints a five run 1st and a 5-2 lead after one.

The Saints were back at it in the 2nd as the roommate duo of Dorado and Kennedy flexed their muscles, Dorado crushing a three run home run to left center field and Kennedy lifting a solo shot into orbit to put Seward in front 9-2.

Pratt plated a run in the 3rd to make it 9-3, but what momentum they had wouldn’t last long as they took the field in the bottom half.

Seward scored on a sac fly from Dylan Paul in the 3rd and Dorado continued his huge weekend with a double to plate another and make it an 11-3 game. An RBI single from Sweat followed by an RBI double from Ledbetter blew the game wide open with Seward leading it 13-3.

The Beavers got another single run in the 4th, but Seward answered with another crooked number in their half of the inning. Paul and Dorado were again in the middle of the Saints thunder as Paul singled home a pair with the bases loaded to make it 15-3 and Dorado singled up the middle to score another and make it 16-3.

Pratt scored four times in the 5th to keep the game going at 16-7, but the Saints quickly squelched any thoughts of the game going past five as they loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning and got a long single from Justin Graff-Rowe to force the run rule at 17-7 to clinch the series win.

The Saints banged out 18 hits in the win, led by Dorado’s monster game that included 4 hits and 6 RBI’s. Sweat, Kennedy, and Ledbetter each had 2 hits and 2 RBI’s while Logan Nethercot collected 3 hits hitting out of the leadoff spot for the first time in his Seward career. Jared Biddy earned the win on the mound, benefitting from the Seward offensive explosion. Biddy allowed 5 hits and 3 runs in 2 2/3 innings to improve to 2-0 on the year.

SEWARD COUNTY/PRATT GAME THREE BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/bsb/2015-16/boxscores/20160320_zwy0.xml>

For the third straight game, the Beavers jumped out to a lead in the top half of the first in game four. Pratt scored once, but had another runner cut down at the plate by Graff-Rowe to take a 1-0 lead after ½ inning of play.

The Saints continued to batter Beaver starting pitching in their first at bats in the series finale. Seward loaded the bases with one out before Sweat and Josh Nicol singled home runs and Ledbetter brought another plateward with a single to put Seward in front 3-1 after one.

A long home run by Pratt’s Julio Ibarra in the 3rd cut the Seward lead to 3-2, but the Saints answered with another RBI single from Ledbetter in the bottom half to make it a 4-2 game.

Pratt continued to scratch and claw in their next ups though, taking advantage of a two out Seward error to score a run and make it a 4-3 game before Ibarra lifted off on his second home run in as many innings and his third of the day to retake a 6-4 lead.

The Beavers gave a run back on an error in the bottom half to make it a 6-5 game but Seward gifted one right back in the 5th after a walk, a passed ball, and a sac fly to make it 7-5 Pratt.

Just when you thought you had seen everything on the weekend, Seward reliever Nic Ricigliano lost a chopping comebacker in the sun with two outs in the 6th to allow Pratt to score another unearned run to make it 8-5.

It remained an 8-5 game in favor of the Beavers to stretch time when shaky Pratt defense came into play again, allowing Seward to score twice without picking up a hit to cut the Beaver lead to one at 8-7.

The Saints looked like they were in trouble in the 8th as Pratt loaded the bases with nobody out to start the inning, but Seward reliever Jonathan Castillo came up huge, striking out back to back Beaver hitters before getting a pop up on the infield to end the threat and keep it a one run game at 8-7.

Down to their final six outs, the Saints came out swinging in the 8th as Errett Edwards shook off a tough day at the plate with a leadoff single up the middle and was quickly forced to sprint around the sacks as Graff-Rowe stung a triple to the right center field gap to score him to tie the game at 8. That’s when red hot Toni Dorado stepped to the plate for the Saints and with probably his worst at bat of the weekend, popped a ball up foul to the right side and as fate would have it, the wind pushed it into fair territory where it dropped in for an RBI single to put the Saints ahead 9-8.

Saints Coach Galen McSpadden left Castillo out there to try and finish things off in the 9th. With one out, a Beaver single put the tying run on and brought the go ahead run to the plate in the ever dangerous Ibarra. Castillo came up big though, perfectly locating a fastball off the outside corner of the plate with two strikes and Ibarra, defending the plate, was forced to ground it to second where the Saints turned a 4-6-3 double play to sew up the 9-8 come from behind win.

Seward again gashed Beaver pitching for 18 hits in the win and took advantage of 6 Pratt errors in the contest. The Saints were led by Graff-Rowe and Dorado who combined for 7 hits while Ledbetter had his second straight 2 hit, 2 RBI game of the day for Seward. Castillo earned the win in relief for the Saints, pitching three scoreless innings, scattering 5 hits and striking out 3 to earn his first collegiate victory.

SEWARD COUNTY/PRATT GAME FOUR BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/bsb/2015-16/boxscores/20160320_q7ea.xml>

The sweep was a much needed one for the Saints who improve to 13-15 overall on the year, but more importantly even up their Jayhawk West record at 6-6. Pratt on the other hand falls to 9-18 overall and remains winless in conference play at a league worst 0-8.

The Saints continue a nine game home stand on Wednesday when they host Frank Phillips for the second time in seven days. The Saints and Plainsmen are scheduled for a 3:00 first pitch on what is predicted to be a glorious spring day in Liberal.