Power, pitching stun ’Hounds in 9-1 loss

Fort Scott shortstop Sean Moore (8) throws to first to complette a double play during the top of the fourth inning as second baseman Alexei Cazarin looks on in Friday’s opening game of a Region VI Tournament first-round series at Lions Field.

Scott Nuzum/Tribune

Seward County batters crushed three first-inning home runs and pitcher Tanner King stymied Fort Scott Community College’s batters into the sixth inning as the visiting Saints took a 9-1 upset over the Greyhounds in Friday’s first game of their best-of-three Region VI Tournament playoff series.

The “Highway 54” series continues with a 1 p.m. game this afternoon at Lions Field. If the third-seeded Greyhounds (41-14) bounce back to beat the 14th-seeded Saints (28-28) today, there will be a third and deciding game on Sunday at the same time and place.

Fort Scott starter Wyatt Folsom (9-2) got the first two batters he faced out. But then Dylan Paul stepped up to crank out his 12th homer of the season to left field and designated hitter Cayde Ward followed up with his 10th of the season to right field.

Joseph Kuhn was hit by a pitch in front of Jose Caraballo’s fourth dinger of the season, a shot down the left-field line.

On the other side of things, King (8-3), who came into the game with a season earned-run average of 6.04, had a perfect game going for 6 1/3 innings. He held the Jayhawk Conference’s leading offense, which was batting .359 coming in, to 4-for-31 on the day.

Benny Ayala drew a walk leading off the top of the third for Seward and moved to second on a wild pitch. Cole Bergdall followed with a single to center. Ayala scored on Cruz Shope’s single. Bergdall moved to third on the play, then scored on a double-play ball. Spencer Sackett hit 2-out single between short and third in front of Paul’s second dinger of the day, this one going to right field, that made it 8-0.

Kuhn led off the fifth with a single and Caraballo followed with another hit, which forced Fort Scott head coach John Hill III to finally pull Folsom and put in left-hander Michael Barnes. King moved to third on a fly ball out to center and scored on Bergdall’s sacrifice fly.

Barnes didn’t allow a hit and walked one batter while striking out 4 over the final 5 innings as he worked to keep Seward under control until the ’Hounds could rally.

Though King remained perfect after five, all three Fort Scott batters hit deep fly ball outs to the warning track, a hopeful sign that maybe they could get to the freshman right-hander from Texas.

Ben Kiefer broke up the perfect-game bid with a one-out single up the middle in the sixth. Alexei Cazarin followed with a single of his own. Ben McConnell traded places with Cazarin on a fielder’s choice but King struck out the last batter of the inning.

Solomon got the Greyhounds on the board with a 2-out solo homer in the bottom of the seventh. King regrouped, however, and allowed only a leadoff single to Quinn Waterbury in the top of the eighth before retiring the last six batters he faced.

King didn’t walk anyone and struck out 7 as he managed a complete game, his third of the season in 13 starts.

Sackett, Paul, Ward, Caraballo and Bergdall had 2 hits each for Seward County.

NOTES — There were three other road winners on Friday. Ninth-seeded Coffeyville (28-24) won at No. 8 Hutchinson by a 6-1 score, No. 13 Kansas City (31-24) took a 12-11 win over Jayhawk Conference-Western Division runner-up Butler. and No. 10 Cloud County (27-24) took a 10-4 win at Johnson County....

Jayhawk East champion Cowley (41-9) had a tough time with 16th-seeded Garden City (26-28) before finally winning, 2-0, at Arkansas City. Tiger freshman Cole Larsen (5-0) allowed a single to lead off the game, which turned out to be the Broncbusters’ only hit. He walked 2 and struck out 6....

Western Division champ Barton (41-12) rolled by Allen, 7-0, as Josh Hendrickson (9-2) allowed 4 hits over eight innings. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out 11....

Seward... 400 410 000 — 9 12 0

Fort Scott 000 000 100 — 1 4 1

E — Moore. DP — Fort Scott 2 (Cazarin, Moore and Waterbury, Moore and Waterbury).

LOB — Seward County 5, Fort Scott 3. 2B — Ward. HR — Paul (13, 1st inn, off Folsom, none on, 2 out; 4th inn., off Folsom, 1 on, 2 out), Ward (10, 1st inn, off Folsom, none on, 2 out), Caraballo (4, 1st inn., off Folsom, 1 on, 2 out), Solomon (11, 7th inn., off King, none on, 2 out). S — Caraballo. SF — Bergdall.

Folsom pitched to 2 batters in the fourth.

WP — Folsom. HBP — Kuhn (by Folsom).

T — 1:55.