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 By Jessica Seibel
Fri Jul 24, 2009,
Bryant Cotton (5) accepts the NBC regional championship trophy for the El Dorado
Broncos after
they beat The Team Elite Kings 15-4 in the championship game. Photo by
John Curtis
El Dorado, Kan. -
Centerfielder Elliot Frey has started to come to his own as a member of the El
Dorado Broncos, and he picked about the best time to have his breakout game.
Frey recorded four hits, three runs, two runs batted in, two stolen bases and a
diving catch to end an inning which led the Broncos on their way to a 15-4
victory Thursday night over the Team Elite Kings to claim the National Baseball
Congress Midwest regional title at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.
The Murray State product was named most valuable player at the tournament for
his play throughout the six-day event, but it was his play Thursday night that
solidified his effort at the tournament.
"We were all just ready to come out every single game," Frey said. "The coaches
were telling us not to get too hyped up that it was a championship game or that
we were playing for something. We just need to do what we do everyday and that's
play a hard nine (innings).
"That's what I try to do on the field. I had been kind of struggling earlier on
in the season, but there's nothing wrong with getting hot at the right time."
Wes Cunningham, who has spent most of this year hitting in the third spot —
right behind Frey in the batting order with the Broncos and at Murray State —
also had a big offensive day in the title game. Cunningham also had four hits,
four runs batted in and three runs.
"I'm used to batting near Frey and I'm used to him getting on base and making
things possible," Cunningham said. He later joked: "I can't let Frey out-do me,
so I have to try to match him as best as I could."
Jake Sabol
(Central Michigan) had a few tense moments in the championship, but pitched five
innings to record the win, his sixth of the season.
Sabol
struck out five and didn't walk anybody, giving up eight hits and all four runs
(two were earned).
"It was a little rough getting used to the mound and everything,"
Sabol
said. "The guys did well behind me and all I tried to do was to get them to hit
it in the air. My two-seamer
was effective today and I just threw that most of the time."
Mathias Simmons (Neosho CC), Mike Nixon (Central Michigan), Randal
Builliard
(Louisiana-Lafayette) and Nick Ward (Butler CC) all pitched an inning after
Sabol,
giving up one hit and one walk combined. For the series, the Broncos pitching
staff gave up three earned runs and finished with an ERA of 0.68 for the five
games of the tournament, including two shutouts.
The regional title wasn't the only title the Broncos (32-8) got to celebrate on
the artificial turf at Lawrence-Dumont. Ten minutes after grabbing their trophy
for the tournament, they were told that Derby lost at Hays 3-2 which gave El
Dorado sole-possession of the
Jayhawk League title as well.
That prompted a second celebration on the field.
The Broncos, who had 19 hits as a team in the championship game, took the early
lead with two runs in the first and second innings. El Dorado scored in seven of
the nine innings they went to bat.
Frey singled off losing pitcher Cory
Goudeau,
stole second and scored the first run on a RBI triple by Cunningham, with
Cunningham later scoring on a passed ball against the Kings' Joe
Manbodh.
Frey knocked in a run with a single in the second inning after Matt
Langseth
(Cornell) had a sacrifice fly to score Chad Carman (Oklahoma City).
The Kings (25-20) came back with three runs in the bottom of the second inning
against Sabol,
before El Dorado answered with five runs in the top of the third to take a firm
grasp in the title game. Langseth
hit his second sacrifice fly to bring home another run, Graham Tyler (Brown) hit
a RBI double, Frey hit his second RBI single, and Cunningham closed out the
scoring with a two-run infield single.
El Dorado made the score 10-3 on a RBI single by Matt
Giller
(Kansas State); and after a Kings' run in the bottom of the fourth, the Broncos
made it 12-4 in the top of the sixth on a RBI single by Carman and a RBI triple
by Langseth.
Cunningham knocked in Frey on a double for one run in the seventh inning, while
Travis Whipple (Louisiana-Lafayette) had a RBI sacrifice fly for the second run
in the inning. The Broncos closed out the scoring with a run in the ninth on a
RBI single by Kirk Walker (Oklahoma City).
Broncos to host Goldpanners
The Broncos announced a couple of changes to the schedule to close out the
season. Wednesday's game against Derby has been moved from 7:05 p.m. to 1 p.m.;
with the Broncos playing the Alaska
Goldpanners
that night at 7:05 p.m. The
Goldpanners are a traveling team
based in Fairbanks, Alaska, and will be playing in the NBC World Series.
"Re-Printed" with
permission from the El Dorado Times. 7/25/2009
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