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FSHS baseball bumped by top seed
MULVANE, Kan. -- Topseeded Bishop Ward won its 37th consecutive game Friday afternoon and advanced in the Class 4A State Baseball Tournament with a 10- 0 win over Fort Scott High School in the first round.
Ward, from Kansas City, Kan., improved to 24- 0. The Tigers ended their season at 8- 5.
But for one play, the score could have been closer and Fort Scott might have been able to make a better contest of it. The Tigers trailed only 2- 0 in the bottom of the third and had a one-on, two-out situation when pitcher Drew Lawson was called for a balk.
Although the umpire explained why he made the call, Lawson was affected by it. He walked the next three batters, which forced in John Oropeza to make it 3- 0.
The Tigers may have still be able to get out of the inning without further damage. But no one called Lawson off on a sky-high infield pop fly and it bounced out of his glove. With two out, Ward had its runners going and two runners came in on the play.
Then Jake Janes came to bat for the Cyclones and stroked a two-run single, which made it 7- 0.
Ward added two more runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to force the run rule to take effect and end the contest early. It was the ninth time in its last 10 postseason games that the Cyclones scored at least 10 runs.
Oropeza was two-for-two for Ward, while Brett Patterson was two-for-three with two runs batted in. Beau Stoker scored three runs while Oropeza and Stephan Maurin each scored two.
Ward pitcher Matt Garcia allowed four hits and one walk while striking out five.
Due to four errors, only two of the runs Lawson (62) allowed were earned. He allowed eight hits and six walks while striking out four.
John Leek went two-forthree for the Tigers. Dakotah Gettler and Cole Pruitt had Fort Scott's other two hits.