Avila Falls in Close Series with Sterling

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – It was Avila's closest series of the season, with all three games decided by a single run, but the Eagles (18-21, 9-13 KCAC) could not consistently come up with big hits late in the games, allowing Sterling (16-22, 8-14 KCAC) to pull out two wins on Saturday and win a closely-contested series that was crucial to both teams' playoff dreams.

Both the Eagles and Warriors sit outside the six-team KCAC Tournament field at present with only a few weekends left to play, but a series win for the Eagles would have helped them rise back up the standings with a couple of tough opponents on tap next. Instead, Avila now knows that it must work harder down this stretch run if they want to make their dreams of going to Great Bend a reality. It is still more than possible for the Eagles to make it there, but the path ahead will now be tougher.

This weekend series against the Warriors was about as close as it could get. The Eagles got good to great starting pitching in all three games, better than what the Warriors got, but once both teams went into the bullpens Sterling experienced greater success. Avila could not record enough clutch hits in the late stages in the three games, allowing the Warriors to rally back and grab leads that they held on to in both games of Saturday's doubleheader.

Jarret Dotson set the tone for the Eagles with arguably his best start of the season in Friday's series opener at The Z. Dotson set a new season high with 7.1 innings pitched, allowing just one run off seven hits with four strikeouts against two walks. Andrew Mason matched him for the first six innings before the Eagles finally struck against him in the seventh: Reyes Willis, Landon Vahle and Bryce Culp all singled to load the bases with nobody out, and Jack Virden and Kurt Trotter delivered RBIs to put the Eagles in front 3-1 after seven.

Sterling managed to score one off Gaven Mooney in the ninth, ending his long scoreless streak, but that was all the Warriors would get. Mooney left two runners stranded to preserve the 3-2 win and earn his sixth save of the season. Dotson also picked up his sixth win of the campaign.

Both offenses were more in sync in Saturday's doubleheader from the get-go. Luis Morales led off the game with a solo home run, but the Eagles were unfazed: Vahle doubled and scored on a knock by Culp in the first, and Tanner Yeisley scored an unearned run in the second to put the Eagles ahead.

That lead didn't last long because Aaron Johnson added to his team lead with a solo homer in the third, but Avila starter Keaton Ashby was excellent after that, allowing just one hit the rest of the way and striking out the final three batters he faced to cap off a quality start with two runs allowed over six full innings. That enabled the Eagle offense to go back to work, and Reyes Willis, batting in the nine-hole, drove in runs in both the fourth and the fifth to put Avila back on top 4-2.

But Sterling was able to come up with a couple of clutch hits to turn the tide. First, Elvis Rumaldo hit a two-run shot in the seventh following an error to tie the game, then Morales drove in a run following a balk call to put the Warriors in front 5-4. The Eagles, meanwhile, could not get anything going against reliever Gio Ramos, who threw the final 4.2 innings out of the pen to preserve the lead and the win.

That set up a crucial rubber match in Saturday's 7-inning affair. The shortest game of the series produced the most offense, with the teams combining for 11 runs on 20 hits. Sterling once again scored first, but the Eagles once against countered with two runs in the bottom of the first, courtesy of RBIs from Virden and Trotter.

Then the Warriors staged a couple of big rallies, scoring twice in the third and twice more in the fourth to take a 5-2 lead. Ricky Dober hit a clutch two-run homer after Jacob Nevels singled in the fourth to get the Eagles back within a run, and then Paxton Andrade beat out an infield single and hustled home on a passed ball to score the tying run, evening the score at 5-5 after five.

But Sterling once again came up with the clutch hit. With two on in the sixth, nine-hole hitter Damon Redeker punched a single into left scoring pinch-runner James Easter – fitting on this holiday weekend – and putting the Warriors back in front. Jack Dotterer pitched well to record the final six outs of the game, but the Eagles could not strike back against reliever Ryan Speer, giving the Warriors the 6-5 victory and the series win.

Up next, Avila keeps this homestand rolling by welcoming Ottawa back to The Z for the third game of their season-long series. Avila will be looking to complete their first sweep of the Braves in modern program history on Tuesday with first pitch slated for 2:30 PM. As always, you can tune in to the game live and for free with Max Williams on the call on the Avila Sports Network.