Saints Struggle with Galveston

After a 2-0 start to the season, the Seward County Saints came crashing back to Earth on Friday as they were on the wrong side of a 21-1 beating from Galveston in the two teams series opener in Dallas, Texas.

Things didn’t start well for the Saints under the lights at Justin Northwest High School in the Big D as Galveston plated three two out runs in the top half of the 1st inning to put Seward behind 3-0 before they had a chance to hit for the first time.

Seward went down in order against Texas signee Blake Pflughaupt in the bottom of the 1st and the Whitecaps added to their lead with another run in the 2nd to make it a 4-0 game.

The Saints got on the board with an RBI single from Cody Coontz in the bottom of the inning to make it a 4-1 game, but Galveston struck right back with a three run home run in the 3rd to stretch their lead to 7-1.

Galveston plated another run in the 4th and blew the game open against the Seward bullpen in the 5th with four more to make it 12-1 Whitecaps midway through.

Seward had a chance to make a dent in the Galveston lead in the bottom of the 5th, but left two runners on at innings end and the Whitecaps continued their onslaught with two more in the top of the 6th to make it 14-1.

Things really got out of hand in the 7th as Galveston put up a six spot on the Saints to make it 20-1 and they added another run later in the contest to finish Seward off 21-1.

Galveston scored in eight of nine innings and outhit Seward 21-7 in the blowout. No Saint had more than one hit in the loss and Coontz had the lone Seward RBI. Saints pitching walked 12 in the defeat and all four Seward arms that saw time on the mound yielded four runs or more. Jared Biddy took the loss, lasting just three innings while allowing six hits and seven runs, striking out six and walking five to fall to 0-1 on the year.

Seward drops to 2-1 on the year with the loss while Galveston improves to 4-1.

The two will continue a four game series with a doubleheader Saturday afternoon in Dallas before wrapping up the series Sunday morning.

SEWARD COUNTY/GALVESTON GAME ONE BOX SCORE<http://sewardsaints.com/sports/bsb/2016-17/boxscores/20170203_7pia.xml>

The Seward County Saints fell to 2-3 on the year Saturday afternoon in Dallas, Texas as they dropped both ends of a doubleheader to the Galveston Whitecaps. Seward trailed the whole way in a 7-2 loss in the opener, but were just one strike away from victory in the second game before an error allowed Galveston to tie it and then eventually go ahead with a 6-5 win to sweep the twinbill.

In game one of the doubleheader, the Saints put their leadoff man on in two of the first three innings, but were unable to push anything across the plate as the game remained scoreless after 2 ½.

Galveston broke through in the 3rd with a three spot, taking advantage of a pair of walks and a Seward error to take a 3-0 lead.

The Saints finally got something going in the 5th, getting on the board with an RBI single from Errett Edwards and adding another on a groundout from Dylan Paul to make it a 3-2 game.

Galveston quickly struck back in the bottom of the inning, again taking advantage of a pair of Seward walks to start a three run inning to push their lead to 6-2.

The Saints wouldn’t score again and Galveston added an insurance run in the 6th before going on to win 7-2 to take a 2-0 lead in the series.

Seward put together seven hits in the loss, getting two hit efforts from Brendan Madsen and Addison Kaasch. Jonathan Castillo took the loss on the mound, going 4 innings and allowing five hits and five runs while striking out four to fall to 1-1 on the year.

SEWARD COUNTY/GALVESTON GAME TWO BOX SCORE <http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/bsb/2016-17/boxscores/20170204_p9cx.xml>

The Saints took their first lead of the series in the 1st inning of game three, getting an RBI single from Edwards to go ahead 1-0 early on.

Galveston quickly tied the game up with a solo home run to begin the 2nd and scored three times in the 3rd to go in front 4-1.

The Saints answered with a crooked number of their own, getting a two run single from Owen Martin to cut the Galveston lead to one and then took advantage of a Whitecap error to tie the game at 4. They weren’t done yet as Madsen lifted a sacrifice fly to right to allow Martin to score, putting Seward in front 5-4.

It remained a 5-4 game through the 6th as Saints starter Brian Tims settled in and the Galveston bullpen kept Seward from extending upon their lead.

Tims picked up two quick strikeouts in the 7th as he looked to finish what he started, but needing just one more strike to close the game out, a groundball was booted by the Saints infield, allowing the game tying run to score to knot the score at 5. Later in the frame a passed ball allowed the Whitecaps to plate the go ahead run and the Saints didn’t threaten in the bottom of the inning as they fell 6-5.

Seward outhit Galveston 9-8 in the loss, getting two hits each from Kaasch, Edwards, and Jared Biddy. Tims took the tough luck loss after grinding it out for 6 2/3 innings, scattering eight hits, while allowing four earned runs and striking out four to fall to 1-1 on the year.

SEWARD COUNTY/GALVESTON GAME THREE BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/bsb/2016-17/boxscores/20170204_6i7u.xml>

The Saints drop to 2-3 on the year after the sweep while Galveston improves to 6-1.

The two teams will wrap up their four game series Sunday morning at Justin Northwest High School in Dallas.