Kansas Stars dominate again in NBC win over Liberal
The Kansas Stars may not have known what to expect from the National Baseball Congress World Series, but Monday’s 8-3 win over Liberal probably hit on just about everything they wanted from the experience.
Jayson Nix struggled to go back on a ball over his head in left field and he tripped over his feet, allowing the Stars to work toward their quota of razzing teammates once Nix returned to the dugout.
Adam LaRoche hit a two-run home run, the Stars’ first in two games in the tournament. It gave the Stars a 3-2 lead in the third inning and was a catalyst for a victory that helped the Stars fulfill their competitive instincts.
Pitchers Tim Hudson and Josh Beckett batted in the eighth inning, and both reached base. That was the best indication that the Stars aren’t taking themselves too seriously.
“This has been amazing,” said Brandon Inge, who played 11 of his 13 major-league seasons with the Detroit Tigers. “This is probably the most fun I’ve had in baseball in a long time.”
The Stars were scored upon for the first time when Nix was unable to handle a line drive directly over his head. It became a two-run triple for Blake Brewster against Roy Oswalt in the bottom of the first inning.
“We were trying to figure out where the sniper was,” Inge joked.
Liberal starting pitcher Jakob Hernandez, normally a reliever, initially seemed up to the task of holding the lead. After a perfect first inning that included a strikeout of Pete Orr, Hernandez shrugged off two Stars singles in the second.
Hernandez struck out Nix to end the top of the second and Koyie Hill to start the third inning. He struck out Nix and J.D. Drew, a former All-Star, twice apiece.
“It definitely puts a little spike in my step,” Hernandez said. “I just felt like I had to stay composed up there. I couldn’t let anything like that affect the way I was going to pitch.”
LaRoche’s home run, his first hit of the tournament, was hit high enough to carry just beyond the right-field wall near the corner. It gave the Stars the lead after Jack Wilson’s double and an RBI single by Orr plated their first run.
From there, the Stars used their greatest advantages to build the lead and keep Liberal from scoring again until the ninth.
If the ages of the Stars’ retirees, relative to their college-aged opponents, is an equalizer, then the Stars can claim significant superiority in baserunning, defense, plate discipline and situational hitting.
No team can match the Stars’ relief pitching in a close game, either. Following Oswalt on Monday for the next three innings were Brad Penny, who once started an All-Star game, and 2015 World Series winner Jeremy Guthrie, an ex-Kansas City Royals right-hander.
“It comes back to you pretty quick,” Wilson said. “… Defense, baserunning, it’s very refreshed in your mind. That’s the best thing about it is that we played so long that you can just look at each other and know what we’re thinking (defensively). It’s a lot of fun doing that.”
The Stars clinched a spot in Thursday’s quarterfinals, though an anticipated game against the NJCAA national team, also 2-0, awaits Wednesday. Roger Clemens is scheduled to pitch for the Stars in probably the best measure for predicting how they’ll finish.
Two wins have the Stars thinking ahead, just a little bit. An appearance in the final eight was expected, at least from outsiders, and now that the Stars have realized it, they wonder how far they can go.
“When we got here, we were all pretty loose in the clubhouse,” said pitcher Brett Tomko, who didn’t pitch on Monday. “The first game, once the game was getting close, you could see guys’ preparation basically like it was in the big leagues. It got serious real quick.
“It’s baseball. We’re competitors. There’s a reason why we played as long as we played, it’s because we’re competitors and we like baseball. After the first pitch, we’re out here to win. That’s why you play. We’re out here to have a good time and a good experience, but the bottom line is, I think we all want to win.”
Kan. Stars | 003 | 102 | 020 | — | 8 12 0 |
Liberal | 200 | 000 | 010 | — | 3 4 1 |
W — Oswalt. L — Hernandez.
Stars batting – Langerhans 0-5, Wilson 2-5, Orr 3-5, A. LaRoche 1-4, Hudson 1-1, Drew 0-4, Beckett 0-0, Inge 2-3, Uggla 1-3, L. Nix 0-2, Wesson 2-3, Hill 0-2, K. Clemens 0-2.
Stars pitching – Oswalt 3 IP-2 ER, Penny 2-0, Guthrie 1-0, Kohlmeier 1 1/3-1, J. LaRoche 2/3-0, Gordon 1-0.
Liberal batting – Reinschmidt 0-3, Mumper 0-1, Knauth 1-3, O’Donnell 0-4, Brewster 1-4, Cox 0-2, Taylor 0-2, Bogart 1-3, Jenkins 0-1, Robinson 0-3, Ortiz 0-1, Radcliffe 1-2.
Liberal pitching – Hernandez 5 1/3-5, Smith 1/3-0, Stretch 1-0, Moreland 1-2, Hansen 0-0, Busto 1 1/3-0.
This story was originally published August 8, 2016 at 10:23 PM with the headline "Kansas Stars dominate again in NBC win over Liberal."