Liberal, Kansas – Sunday afternoon marked the final two games of the regular season for the Seward County Saints who honored their fifteen sophomores before taking on the Pratt Beavers where four home run bombs in each game led the Saints baseball team to a 3-1 series win heading into postseason action this upcoming week.
Seward County started the game with Connor Raney grounding out to the shortstop to drive in Kaden Juarez for a 1-0 lead after two innings which Pratt took control of half an inning later with a 2 RBI single to make it 2-1 Pratt. Nathan Hopkins locked the score up three pitches into the bottom of the third with a solo home run bomb to left field while an RBI triple from Cameron Cartwright put the Saints back in the driver’s seat. A two-run homer from Mason Hagel-Pitt grew the lead out to four 6-2 and SCCC never took their foot off the gas as they continued to connect on heavy hits against the Beavers. A two-run homer from Cartwright in the fourth kept the lead growing with another one from Kokaro Wakui grew the score all the way to 14-5 to hand the Saints a win over Pratt to start the afternoon.
Cartwright continued the success for Seward County in game two with a fly ball out to left field that landed well beyond the fences for a solo home run to put the Saints ahead 1-0. Four runs for the Beavers resulted in a 4-2 deficit that SCCC needed to climb out of and they responded with a big 2 RBI double from Hopkins to lock the score back up while Todd Baffa singled on a ground ball to drive Hopkins in for a 5-4 lead. A big three-run homer from Raney in the fifth stretched the Saints’ advantage out to five at 9-4 and two more home run hits from Hagel-Pitt and Mason Gilbert in the bottom of the eighth led to a five-run inning and a 14-6 win in game two to take the series 3 games to 1.
Seward County finishes the 2024 regular season schedule with a 30-25 overall record while going 18-14 in KJCCC action which puts them sixth in the Jayhawk West standings. They will now prepare to hit the road for the start of the Region VI Tournament where they will take on Kansas City Kansas in the first round of the playoffs.