HAYS — The Class AAA American Legion baseball rivalry game between the Great Bend Chiefs and Hays never took a foothold.
The depth-laden Eagles swept the youthful Chiefs in a doubleheader on Tuesday night at Larks Park, winning 20-0 and 8-0.
The run-rule went into effect in both games.
"We're playing some freshmen against some college-ready guys," Chiefs manager Michael Stettinger said. "It's going to be tough, but at the same time, I felt like our guys competed all night and they hit the ball very well."
The Chiefs, who fell to 0-6 on the season, are fielding one of their youngest AAA legion teams in memory. It's patience for now, and promise for the future.
Great Bend's pitchers dug themselves a hole on the mound in the first game, yielding a combined eight walks.
"We've just got to go out there and keep throwing strikes to improve," Stettinger said. "It's hard to play defense when you're putting guys on with free passes."
Chiefs right-hander Braden Jones pitched all four innings in the nightcap, yielding five runs in the first inning and three runs in the second.
"Braden had his arm injury during the high school season and he didn't get to pitch quite as much, but coming out, you know that you're always going to get Braden's best," Stettinger said.
"He's always going to compete for you on the mound. Unfortunately, he had some balls that we probably should have been out of the inning on … some bloopers that fell in and stuff like that fell. Realistically, he probably should have only given up four."
Chandler Rule pitched a one-hit shutout for Hays, yielding only a Shade Wondra base hit.
GAME 1
Eagles 20, Chiefs 0 (2½)
Hays scored eight runs in the first inning and then had 13 straight batters reach base during the second, where the Eagles scored 12 runs.
The 15-run rule went into effect.
Great Bend's Anson Hall had a base hit in the second for their first hit. Jaxx Hillman and Wondra had back-to-back singles in the third although they were left stranded.
The Chiefs entertain Salina on Thursday night in their home opener. The first game of the scheduled doubleheader is set for 6 at the Great Bend Sports Complex.
CLASS AAA AMERICAN LEGION
BASEBALL
At Hays
Larks Park
Tuessday
Game 1
Hays Eagles 20, Great Bend Chiefs 0 (2½)
123 R H E
Chiefs 000 — 0 3 2
Eagles 8(12)x — 20 13 1
Tristan Hall, Tyler Nuss (1), Gabriel Juarez (2), Jared Maneth & Anson Hall; Brady Beiker & Jake Sedbrook. W — Beiker. L — Hall. 2B — Hays (Layne Downing).
Game 2
Hays 8, Great Bend 0 (4½)
123 45 R H E
Chiefs 000 00 — 0 1 2
Eagles 530 0x — 8 9 0
Braden Jones & Jared Maneth; Chandler Rule & Jake Sedbrook. W — Rule. L — Jones. 2B — Hays (Clayton Basgall).
