Yuma High School’s baseball team just might make it into the postseason.
The Indians have won five of their last six games to sit at 7-7 heading into the Season D double dip finale on Saturday at rival Wray.
Yuma was No. 23 in the Class 2A RPI after Tuesday’s doubleheader sweep against Holyoke, in the Indians’ final home games of Season D. The top 24 in the RPI advance to regional, with the top eight seeds hosting three-team regionals on Tuesday, June 15.
Simple math shows the Indians need at least a split to finish the regular season with a .500 record, and would finish with a winning record if they somehow could sweep the Eagles.
That is a tall order, however, as Wray entered the final week of Season D undefeated and No. 2 in the RPI. The Eagles just need a split to claim the Lower Platte Activities Association title as they already have handed Class 1A top-ranked Merino its only loss of the season. In fact, it has been a strong baseball season for the league’s three 1A schools, as Merino, Haxtun and Caliche entered the 1A districts this week with winning records and an eye on advancing to regional.
Among the league’s 2A schools, Wiggins is in line to finish second behind Wray. The Eagles, Wiggins and Yuma are the only league schools in line to advance to next week’s regional.
Yuma gave itself a big boost with an exciting sweep of Burlington, 4-3 and 10-9, last Wednesday at Tribe Field. (See yumapioneer.com for more on that double dip.)
The Indians then ended up splitting with Sedgwick County at Tribe Field on Saturday, winning the opener 10-5 before losing 11-10 in the nightcap after holding a four-run lead late.
The Tribe welcomed Sedgwick County to town on a sunny and warm Saturday. Yuma broke open a close first game in the third inning.
John Smith doubled and scored on Andre Baucke’s double in the first inning. Victor Perez scored in the second for a 2-0 Yuma lead.
Sedgwick County answered in the top of the third with two runs off of two hits and a walk.
However, the Indians responded with a six-run frame in the home half. Kobe Rayl led it off with a double down the right field line, and Smith reached on a throwing error as Rayl scored from third. Smith had advanced to third on the error, and scored on Yahir Trejo’s single. Trejo scored on Baucke’s single. Kevin Hermosillo’s hit drove in Buacke and Perez, and Hermosillo scored on Cade Morton’s single.
Leading 8-2, the Indians tacked on two more in the fourth when Trejo and Baucke drew walks. Trejo scored on Perez’s single, and Baucke came in on Hermosillo’s sacrifice fly to center.
Sedgwick County scored one run in the fifth, and pushed across two more in the seventh to get within 10-5, but the Tribe held on for the win.
Trejo had a solid outing on the hill for the pitching win. He threw the first 4-1/3 innings, allowing three runs on four hits, striking out five and walking four. Angel Escobar pitched the final 2-2/3s, not allowing a hit, but still yielding two runs on four walks and two strikeouts.
The nightcap did not start well as Sedgwick County plated five runs. However, the Indians came right back with seven runs in the home half. Yuma had three hits in the rally, but walks and SedgCo errors helped fuel the outburst.
Rayl drew a walk and scored, Smith singled and scored, Baucke singled and scored, Jose Ruiz reached and scored, Perez walked and scored, Hermosillo reached and scored and Escobar drew a walk and scored. Rayl came up again and hit a single, but was left stranded at third.
Both teams added a run in the second, including Trejo hitting a double and scoring on Ruiz’s fielder’s choice.
The Tribe then made it 10-6 with two runs in the fifth, and Perez and Hermosillo both were hit by a pitch and eventually scored.
However, the Tribe could not hold on as Sedgwick County plated five runs in the top of the sixth for an 11-10 lead, and the Indians could not generate anything offensively over its last two at-bats — scoring only three runs after the first inning.
The teams combined for 21 runs, but also combined for just 12 hits (seven by Sedgwick County), 12 walks and seven errors (five by Sedgwick County).
Trejo had a double and one run, Perez a double and two runs, Rayl one hit and one run, Smith one hit, two RBI and one run, Baucke one hit, one RBI and one run, Ruiz one RBI and one run, Hermosillo two runs, Escobar one run, and Morton one RBI.
Conner Lynch nearly got the pitching win, leading by four when he went back out for the sixth inning. However, he got into trouble and exited with no outs. Rayl pitched the last six outs.
Yuma wrapped up its home schedule Tuesday against Holyoke, claiming 7-1 and 12-2 wins over the winless Dragons at windswept Tribe Field.
The Tribe won the first game comfortably despite getting only two hits. Holyoke recorded five, but drew only one walk compared to seven for Yuma.
Smith was hit by a pitch and eventually scored without the Indians getting a hit in the first inning, and Victor Perez did the exact same thing in the second, followed by Jose Ruiz doing the same in the third for a 3-0 lead.
Three singles led to one run for Holyoke in the sixth.
However, the Tribe got some breathing room in the home half. Rayl reached on an error, Smith drew a walk and Trejo did also. Rayl scored on a bases-loaded walk, and Smith and Trejo on passed balls. Rayl then singled and scored on a passed ball in the seventh.
Both of Yuma’s hits, by Rayl and Trejo, came in the seventh. Rayl and Smith both scored two runs, and Trejo, Ruiz, and Perez one each. Ruiz also had an RBI.
Trejo got the job done on the bump for the complete-game win. He struck out 10 and walked only one, yielding one earned run while scattering five hits over seven innings.
The Tribe broke loose a bit in the nightcap with eight hits for the 12-2 win in five innings, helped by seven Holyoke errors.
Yuma pushed across three in the first inning, featuring a double by Trejo. Three singles led to three more runs in the second. The Tribe added one run in the third, and two in the fourth for a 9-2 lead.
The Indians then finished the job in the fifth with three runs, once again though without any hits. Rayl was hit by a pitch and scored on a passed ball, Smith drew a walk and scored on a passed ball, and Trejo drew a walk and scored on an error.
Conner Lynch went the first three innings to get the pitching win. He allowed one earned run on one hit, striking out three and walking five. Smith went the last two innings, striking out three and walking four, while allowing one earned run.
Trejo had two hits, including a double, with two RBI and three runs, Rayl two hits with two runs, Ruiz two hits with two RBI, Perez one hit and one run, Escobar one hit and two runs and Cade Morton one run.
The only downer to the afternoon was that Morton, the team’s only senior (and a YHS graduate), possibly broke his thumb when the ball hit him while swinging at a pitch late in the game, which could possibly shelve him for the rest of his final season at YHS.
