EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
After the Fourth of July game against Dodge City ended in a draw, the Bee Jays traveled to Dodge Sunday for a 12-8 win and then lost a one-run game to the Rocky Mountain League-leading Hays Larks, 3-2 Monday.
Liberal trailed the A’s 7-5 in the ninth inning of the annual holiday classic against the A’s Saturday, but the Bee Jays rallied with a Ben Finnegan home run to lead off the inning and a sacrifice fly by Drew Gartman that scored Trenton Uyeda to force a 7-7 tie.
Because the game was non-league, the teams agreed to end the game and allow the post-game fireworks celebration to start.
Following the tie in Liberal, the Bee Jays traveled to Dodge City Sunday for a rematch with the A’s, and after falling behind 3-1 early, the Bee Jays rallied for a 14-8 win.
Uyeda tied the game at 3-3 with a home run that scored two runs in the fifth, and Josiah Rojas scored on a Dodge error later in the inning to give the Bee Jays a 4-3 lead.
Cooper Kardoukis hit a two-RBI double in the sixth followed by and RBI double and an RBI single by Josiah Rojas for an 8-3 Liberal lead.
The Bee Jays pushed out to a 14-5 lead in the eighth before the A’s were able to score two in the eighth and another in the ninth, but the Bee Jays earned the 14-8 win.
The Bee Jays traveled to Hay Monday to face the league-leading Larks for the first time this season, and the Larks won the defensive battle 3-2.
Liberal took a 1-0 lead in the third with a sacrifice fly from Cole Manuel that scored Seth Green.
Joshua Mosley pitched five shutout innings against the Larks until Hays broke through in the sixth for three runs including a home run and two RBI doubles.
Charlie Ziola hit an RBI single for the Bee Jays in the seventh to cut the lead to 3-2, but the Bee Jays could not push another run across the plate and lost 3-2.
The Bee Jays outhit the Larks 6-3, and the Larks committed three errors, but all three Hays hits came in the sixth and provided enough offense for the win.
The two teams will face each other again today and Wednesday.
