By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Billings baseball team was down to its final strike in the district championship game last week and emerged with a 4-3 win over Exeter in eight innings.
On Monday the Wildcats traveled to Liberal for a Class 1 sectional and again found themselves trailing in a win-or-go-home contest. Again, Billings rose to the occasion.
The Wildcats erupted for seven runs in the fifth inning and then tacked on one more in the sixth to top Liberal 17-7 to advance to the quarterfinals, where they’ll host St. Elizabeth on Wednesday.
“I think it’s the fight these kids have,” head coach John Craig said. “These kids have a lot of heart. They’re ballplayers. They’ve been doing this a long time and they don’t want to go home and start the summer yet.”
Billings, which lost to Lockwood in last year’s sectional round, trailed 3-0 early and then scored four runs in the third to pull ahead – briefly. The Bulldogs, who played as the visitors on the scoreboard, pulled ahead 7-4 in the top of the fourth but it was all Wildcats after that.
Billings tied it at 7-7 in the bottom of the fourth. A double by Jason Sekscinski, a single by Grant Heimer and a walk by Chase Verch loaded the bases. Sekscinski scored on a wild pitch, and Kielson Kenniston later lined a single to center to score two more.
The fifth inning was the big one, though. It started with Liberal threatening to retake the lead again – Kole Wiles and Kaleb Coleman drew walks and advanced to second and third on a wild pitch with just one out. But Mason Ebert struck out the final two batters to get out of the jam.
Then Billings broke it open in the bottom half of the inning. Brayden Garbee started it off with a double to deep center, then Zach Bos singled. Two runs scored on wild pitches, and Verch later drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 10-7. Ebert then came to the plate and crushed a no-doubter over the right-field fence for a grand slam. Levi Essick later drew another bases-loaded walk, and Sekscinski made it 16-7 with a groundout.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Liberal loaded the bases in the sixth with a single, hit batter and a walk, but Ebert got another strikeout to end the inning. In the bottom half of the inning Verch and Ebert walked and Kielson Kenniston ended the game with a single to left to make it a 10-run lead.
“That fifth inning was huge because they had a couple guys on with one out and we ended up getting out of that and keeping the game tied,” Craig said. “That helped us keep the little bit of momentum we had going from tying it back up at seven and it kept going. We obviously had a big inning in the bottom of the fifth. With all the turning points, that fifth inning was obviously huge. That’s an inning I’ll look back on and really be proud of the guys for getting through that defensively and stroking the ball in the bottom half.”
Craig said Ebert is the team’s best hitter and when he steps to the plate everyone in the dugout and in the stands expects him to put a good swing on something.
“And if he gets a pitch he can hit he’s going to send it,” he said.
Liberal head coach Travis Walton said if the two teams played 10 times they’d probably each win five games.
“This is a great group and they’re fun to be around,” he said. “I just told them now I’m super excited about having them all back next year. We’re not losing anybody. I feel like there were a few times we lost our composure, maybe had some mental blunders. I felt they did the same thing. It was back and forth there for a while. We never really had anybody that took command there late in the game. We had a few plays not go our way but other than that I was really proud of the boys.”
Billings, 15-10, collected 14 hits and 10 walks in the game. Kenniston was 3-for-4 with 4 RBI’s and a run scored, and Ebert, Garbee and Sekscinski each went 2-for-3. Ebert drove in six and scored three, Garbee drove in one and scored once, and Sekscinski had an RBI and three runs. Heimer added two runs and Verch had two RBI’s and four runs scored.
Liberal, 13-10, finished with nine hits and six walks. Chase Ray was 2-for-3 with a walk and a double, Justin Payne had a double and Nate Smith had a home run off the scoreboard. Payton Morrow drove in three runs and scored once, and Matt Boehne scored twice and walked twice.
The teams combined to use seven pitchers. Ebert pitched 2.2 innings in relief and allowed just one hit while striking out five. For Liberal, Smith started and returned later in relief, pitching a total of 3.1 innings and striking out four.
