No.1 Ottawa bounced No. 2 Tabor from the KCAC baseball tournament 9-5 courtesy of six run bottom of the second of the day three opener Friday morning at Rathert Stadium in Junction City.
A Tabor error started the scoring for the Braves. Dustin Balmer scored the first run on a bunt by Mitch Vielhauer, who reached first on a Tabor throwing error. Vielhauer moved to third on a Spenser Augustine?run batted in single that scored Jon Breedlove.??
Vielhauer touched home plate when Christian Rivera hit a grand slam home run to right field. Augustine and Ruben Olaquez also scored, giving the Braves a 6-0 advantage.
Tabor scored two in the fourth, one in the sixth and two in the seventh to move within one run at 6-5.
The Braves scored three runs in the bottom if the seventh to end the scoring.
Ottawa advances to play the loser of No. 3 Kansas Wesleyan vs. No. 5 Bethany at 7 p.m. Friday. The winner will advance to the Championship round Saturday to play the winner of?the Coyotes and Swedes.
Tabor leaves the tournament 17-10 against the KCAC and 33-19 overall.
Sterling
Bouncing back from a 3-1 loss to No. 3 Kansas Wesleyan in the 11 a.m. game of the KCAC Tournament Thursday, No.2 seeded Tabor baseball beat Sterling 9-1 in the nightcap at Rathert Stadium in Junction City.
The Bluejay bats came alive in the middle innings. Rattling off nine runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh, Tabor started the offensive explosion on a Warrior mistake.
Ryan Boucher tied the game at one in the bottom of the fifth, courtesy of an error by Sterling third baseman Ben Cynova. Later in the inning, Nathan Rausch drove home C.J. Henrichsen to give Tabor a 2-1 lead.
On the play there was an exchange between the Sterling catcher and Tabor?s Taylor Douglas. The dugouts at Rathert Stadium emptied, but there were no physical altercations.?The players did not return to the ball game.
Increasing its lead to 5-1 in the sixth, Tabor?s Andrew Cook and Tanner Stevenson scored on errors.
Rounding out the scoring in the bottom of the seventh, Tabor scored four runs on three straight at bats. Zach Richert started the scoring streak, crossing home plate on a Cook RBI single. Jake Mays then singled up the middle scoring Rausch and Stevenson.
The final score of the game was by Jonathan Murray, who scored on an error.
Kansas Wesleyan
Kansas Wesleyan?s Aaron Converse held Tabor to one run on 10 hits, striking out eight, while working all nine innings in the day two opener of the KCAC tournament in Junction City.
Converse squared off in a pitchers? duel against Tabor?s Jonathan Murray. Murray allowed three earned runs on 12 hits, striking out two in a complete game.
The Coyotes jump out to an early lead scoring its first run in the bottom of the third. Efrain Gonzalez scored Aaron Heiland on an RBI single. Kurri Darby extended the Coyotes? lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth, scoring on 4-6-3 double-play.
Kansas Wesleyan took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth when Cory Shorrette scored on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Lynch.
Scoring its only run in the top of the seventh, Tabor looked poised for a multi-run?inning?until a base running mistake ended the side.
With the ball returned to first base after a Kendrick single that scored Dustin Dick, Henrichsen rounded third and slipped down the third baseline. Unable to get back to his feet in time, Henrichsen was tagged out trying to get back to the bag.
