EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
Josiah Rojas had six RBIs in the first four innings, and the Liberal Bee Jays pulled even with the Hays Larks for first place in the Rocky Mountain Baseball League with an 11-2 win Wednesday at Brent Gould Field.
The Bee Jays swept all four league games from the Larks this season.
The Bee Jays defeated Hays Tuesday 14-6 to set up a battle for first Wednesday.
After an RBI single from Cole Manuel, Josiah Rojas hit a three-RBI double to give the Bee Jays a 4-0 lead, and Rojas scored when Jhett Huffman ripped a shot toward first that was mishandled,
Rojas added another RBI single in the second and another in the fourth, and Liberal had an 8-2 lead.
The Bee Jays had two chances to win by run rule in the seventh and in the eighth by getting runners to third, but neither scored, and Stephen Brown struck out the side in the ninth to secure the win.
Out of six games against the Larks this summer, Hays won both nonleague games, and the Bee Jays swept all four league games to move into a tie for first.
Hays faces Boulder (7-13 league) for two games while the Bee Jays face Dodge City (10-12 league) for two games, the first being in Dodge City Friday and a home game with the A’s Saturday. If Liberal wins both, they will win the league title.
“It was good to get those two at Hays,” Liberal coach Caeden Trenkle said. “We knew they would be hungry after the first time we played them. We stuck together, got good starts, and the offense woke up, so it was nice to see.”
The team has also gelled.
“They pulled together,” Trenkle said. “It’s a group that likes being around each other. As the summer has gone on, our pitching staff has gotten better, our starters are going deeper. You can’t really ask for much more. I have a good idea where everybody is now. We give them the game plan going in. I trust them and they trust us.”
That includes unknown talent.
“We have a couple high school guys, you don’t know what you will get,” Trenkle said. “Josiah had six RBIs. He’s one of those guys. It’s been fun to watch.”
The Bee Jays now have a shot at the league title.
“The job is not finished,” Trenkle said. “We have two big ones left. We have to stay focused, the guys need to pull their weight and do their job, and I think we can handle it.”
