Tabor baseball team goes 3-1 in busy week of play

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN TOM STOPPEL
Tabor split a twinbill with Friends on Saturday, winning the opener 13-3 but losing the second game 7-0.

Cooper Garbe picked up the victory in the opener, allowing six hits and three earned runs in five innings of work.

“Cooper pitched well and hit his spots pretty well,” coach John Sparks said. “He got the ball over the plate, kept it in play and we played pretty solid defense behind him.”

Mike Menges pitched the sixth inning, giving up one hit.

Tabor led 2-0 after one inning and exploded for six runs in the second to take an 8-0 lead before Friends scored all three of its runs in the third.

Tabor put the game out of reach with a pair of runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth.

The Bluejays punished Falcon pitching with 16 hits, including three each from Kevin Peterson and Jeremy Ball.

Josh Craig drove in four runs, Chance Miles three and Casey Hillman two. Ball and Nick Green both had doubles while Craig and Miles both homered.

As impressive as the Bluejay were in the first game, they were stagnant in the second game, enduring a shutout on seven hits.

“The Friends pitcher threw well in the second game but he wasn’t dominant,” Sparks said. “Why we had 16 hits and 13 runs in the opener and got shutout in the second game is a question I have to try to answer as a coach.

“Our approach at the plate wasn’t near as good,” he added. “We took a lot of first pitch fastballs that I think we should have been more aggressive and went after.”

Friends got three runs in the second and two more in the fourth off starter and loser Phil Unruh to go up 5-0. The Falcons added two more in the sixth.

Friends had nine hits but only four earned runs in the contest. Tabor contributed three errors.

Peterson had his second straight three-hit game while Hillman added two hits. The Bluejays left 10 runners on base in the contest.

“We had some chances to score despite the fact we didn’t hit the ball as well in the second game,” Sparks said. “We couldn’t come up with the big hit.

With the split, Tabor now stands at 14-14 overall and 4-4 in KCAC action.

Kansas Wesleyan- Tabor picked up its doubleheader sweep in conference play Wednesday with 9-5 and 12-11 wins over the Coyotes in Salina.

“Our approach at the plate was pretty good for 14 innings,” coach John Sparks said. “I think the big difference was that we made some big plays at key times, which we haven’t been doing earlier in the season.”

In the opener, starter Tyler McKim got the win with help from Casey Hillman, who earned a save.

McKim went allowed three earned runs and six hits in 41/3 innings. Hillman allowed only one hit in the final 22/3.

The Bluejays jumped on top 3-0 in the second inning with the help of Chance Miles’s two-run home run.

Tabor expanded the lead to 6-0 in the third on a three-run homer by Casey Cooper.

After Wesleyan scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth, the Bluejays added one when Miles doubled and scored on a Tyson Bauerle single.

Still leading 7-4 after five innings, Tabor added two runs in the sixth when Josh Craig led off with a solo home run and Nick Green doubled and scored on a Miles single.

Tabor finished with nine runs on 10 hits while Wesleyan plated five runs on seven hits.

Miles went 3-for-4 at the plate with three runs batted in while Cooper was 2-for-4 and drove in three runs.

In Game 2, starter Jeremy Sneed allowed nine hits and six earned runs. Hillman picked up his second save of the day with one hit and no earned runs allowed in 22/3 innings.

Tabor jumped on top 2-0 after one inning only to see Wesleyan score three in their half.

The Bluejays answered with three in the top of the second on a home run by Peterson to give Tabor a 5-3 lead.

After the Coyotes tied the score in the bottom of the second, Tabor scored three times in the third, once in the fourth and three more times in the fifth.

For the day, Tabor scored 12 runs on 11 hits and committed only one error while Wesleyan scored 11 times on 14 hits.

Peterson drove in five runs.

“In the second game, we played pretty well defensively,” Sparks said. “We still have to battle defensively but our guys battled hard for the entire 14 innings. I was really pleased with that.”

The sweep improved Tabor’s record to 13-13 for the season and 3-3 in the KCAC.

Coming-The Bluejays were scheduled to host KCAC leader Saint Mary on Tuesday. Bethany comes to town Thursday for a make-up game before Tabor travels to Lindsborg on Saturday with a 1 p.m. start.


Peterson feted

Tabor’s Kevin Peterson was named the KCAC Position Player-of- the-Week for his performance last week.The senior center-fielder from Rancho Cordova, Calif., went 8-for-14 for a. 571 batting average of and .857 slugging percentage . He scored three runs.

Peterson had one double, a home run and six runs batted in while walking three times.

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