Offense helps Hays advances to NBC World Series semifinals

For the Hays Larks to win their first National Baseball Congress World Series, the Hays Larks may have to scuttle their reputation.

Much of Hays’ rich history has been built upon superior pitching, and the Larks have used that to finish fourth in the World Series four times. But as pitching thins out while teams look to win their fourth, fifth and sixth games in a week, offense becomes more crucial.

With a 13-6 win over Fairbanks in Thursday’s quarterfinals, Hays showed it may be willing to embrace a new identity. The Larks collected 21 hits in Thursday’s win at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, and their first seven batters each had at least two.

In Friday’s semifinals Hays will face the winner of Thursday’s late game between the Seattle Studs and Kansas Stars.

The Larks allowed eight runs in their first three wins while combining to score 18.

“It’s always huge any day when you can come out and swing it,” Hays infielder Ty Redington said. “Today with 21 hits, 13 runs, it’s hard to lose a game like that. When the pitching wears a little thin, the bullpen gets a little thin, hopefully the bats will be there to pick us up.”

Hays scored in the second through fifth innings with near-constant productivity. A two-run third inning started with two hits and a walk, but its potential was realized thanks to a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring fielder’s choice.

The Larks sent 10 batters to the plate in the fourth and only one didn’t get a hit or drive in a run. In the fifth, Hays scored two more by building an inning around three singles and a double but finishing it off with the help of a sacrifice bunt and another RBI fielder’s choice.

“When you’re not getting 21 hits, those are the at-bats that are going to score runs,” Hays outfielder Michael Burns said. “Moving a guy over, hitting a fly ball with a guy in scoring position to score him, those are the ways that we’re going to score when we win the 4-3 game instead of the 13-7 game.”

Burns is in the running for most productive Hays player on Thursday, a competition with many participants. Burns didn’t drive in a run but had four hits and was the catalyst for a middle of the order that had been slow to get going during the tournament.

Redington broke an 0-for- 12 skid with two hits; No. 3 batter Nate Olinger had three while scoring four runs and driving in two, and Austin O’Brien had four hits and two RBIs.

That trio had six total hits in Hays’ first three wins but combined for nine against Fairbanks.

“If you call me a sparkplug, that’s a pretty good feeling,” Burns said. “I’m in front of a lot of good, good hitters, so that makes it easy.

“If we go out and grind our at-bats out, I don’t know if you can put somebody on the mound that can totally shut us down. I’m not saying they can’t have some arms that are good, but we grind at-bats. That’s just what we’ve been doing. Everyone’s just been going up there with a tough mindset, and that’s tough to beat.”

This story was originally published August 11, 2016 at 8:13 PM with the headline "Offense helps Hays advances to NBC World Series semifinals."