An offensive explosion in the eighth inning by Manhattan turned a pitchers’ duel into a blowout as Manhattan defeated the Dodge City Rangers 9-1 during the Class AAA 19U American Legion state tournament at Demon Field.
With its second loss in the double-elimination tournament, Dodge City has been discarded in two games. They finished the season 14-10.
“Obviously it does not feel good,” Rangers head coach Daniel Rogers said. “You come here to win ball games. Yeah, we played well, but obviously you would like to pick up a win here and there. Things did not work out. I thought we played hard, I thought we played the right way. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.”
The first seven Manhattan batters to step up to the plate in the eighth, reached base as Manhattan scored seven runs to pull away in what was a close game.
“We just kind of died in that last inning,” Ranger shortstop Josh Ginther said. “We just couldn’t control it and it got out of our hands.”
Dusty Maas hit a double to the left-center gap to leadoff the inning. After a single from Derek Francis, Garrett Hess doubled to bring them both home. Luke Slagle also had an RBI double in the seven-hit, seven-run inning.
“They came up in the eighth and they just started hitting the ball,” Rogers said. “It was not like we were walking people or making errors. They were just making good contact and that is bound to happen sooner or later when you are playing a good team.”
Heading into the bottom of the eighth, Dodge City Rangers pitcher Zach Harvey held Manhattan to five hits and two runs, but he received the loss.
“I am not so much worried about the result,” Rogers said. “I am very happy with the way he pitched because he gave us an opportunity to win the ball game. You keep a team to 2-1, that gives your team a chance to win.”
The Rangers had opportunities in the eighth, but could not capitalize. Ginther led off the inning with a double and Harvey walked to put two men on with no outs.
“I knew we did not have much time left to do stuff,” Ginther said. “I was trying to start something that inning. We got it started, but we could not finish. It could have been a different ball game.”
They never made it any closer to the plate as Steven Mills popped up to the pitcher on a bunt and Jared Helfrich hit into an inning-ending doubleplay.
“(After the double), I thought, ‘Here we go,”’ Rogers said. “He set the table for us. He found a way to get on in the first inning. He got on with a strikeout and he stepped up again in the eighth. My thoughts were we were going to get some runs across and unfortunately we didn’t.”
To start the game, both teams’ leadoff hitter scored and neither player reached on a hit during the first inning.
Ginther scored the game’s first run on an RBI single by Harvey. Ginther reached on a dropped strike three and stole second.
Dusty Maas tied the game at 1, scoring on a passed ball after reaching on a walk for Manhattan.
Harvey did not allow a hit in the first three innings, but in the fourth, the first three batters got a hit.
Kyle Speer doubled to bring home Hess to give Manhattan a 2-1 lead. Colby Penick, however, kept Speer from scoring, throwing him out at the plate after a single from Sagle.
That was the second runner in the game the Rangers threw out at the plate and the fourth in two games.
“I thought we played well defensively all the way around,” Rogers said, “outfield and infield throughout the whole tournament. You can’t ask for much better defense. We just did not get the timely hits we needed to score the runs we needed.”
CLASS AAA
AMERICAN LEGION
STATE TOURNAMENT
Loser’s bracket
Wednesday
At Demon Field
Manhattan 9, Dodge City 1
123 456 789 R H E
Dodge City 100 000 000 — 1 7 1
Manhattan 100 100 07x — 9 12 1
Zach Harvey, Jesus Sumaya & Tyson Carpenter; Spencer Anderson & Brooks Lindsay.
W —Anderson . L — Harvey. 2B — Manhattan: Kyle Speer 2, Dusty Maas, Luke Slagle; Dodge City: Josh Ginther.
