TURNER, KS - The diamond shined bright on this beautiful day for baseball, as the Turner Bears took on the Lansing Lions. Turner made the home crowd happy with a 10-7 win over the Lions in Game 1 of the doubleheader. Lansing won the second game 8-6.
The doubleheader split made the Bears 6-4 overall, 3-4 Kaw Valley). The Lions are now 5-8, 3-7.
The Bears were led by a five-run sixth inning. Before the big inning, the game had gone back and forth, with both teams trading leads. One of the biggest contributions at the plate was made by junior Alex Hendrix for Turner. He finished the day going 4-for-4 with three doubles, a single and 3 runs batted in and he picked up the save on the mound.
“I think coaching really helped me break out in this game” said Hendrix “They recently gave me advice on a new [batting] stance and it is working great.”
The Lions tried to mount a comeback in the seventh inning, but fell short, only scoring three runs. The Lions took advantage of the walks they drew in the final inning; however they couldn’t finish the comeback against Hendrix.
One place where the Bears really took advantage was at the plate with their discipline. They drew five walks and had multiple hit batsmen in the game and once on base they ran wild. The Bears showed their speed throughout the game by constantly moving runners.
Junior Corey Cowan hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth, giving the Bears another lead in the see-saw affair. It also seemed to give them the confidence to break out in the next inning. Defense was also a strong point for the Bears as they threw out two runners at the plate in the game.
Both teams got very good efforts from their starters. For Lansing, senior Ryan Haller went four innings giving up three runs, walking four and striking out four. Cowan got the start for the Bears and went six innings, giving up four runs on nine hits, striking out six and walking one.
Turner will look to start a winning streak against Sumner Academy. Lansing will try to bounce back against the Bishop Ward Cyclones.
