By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
WICHITA -- To beat Eisenhower senior pitching ace Tyner Horn and the Tigers in Thursday's first-round game in the Class 5A state baseball tournament, Seaman was going to need to get off to a good start and turn in a strong fundamental performance.
Seaman senior Bryson Vawter delivers a pitch in Thursday's 7-0 Class 5A state tournament loss to Eisenhower. [Photo by Selena Favela/Special to TSN]
Seaman senior Scout Jellison came on in relief in the Vikings' 7-0 Class 5A state tournament loss to Eisenhower Thursday. [Photo by Selena Favela/Special to TSN]
The Vikings struggled in both those areas, with the No. 5-seeded Tigers never trailing after scoring two runs in the top of the first while No. 4 Seaman issued eight bases on balls and managed just three hits and struck out 10 times against Horn as Eisenhower advanced to Friday's 1:15 p.m. 5A semifinal with a 7-0 victory at Eck Stadium.
"We knew (Horn) was coming off an injury and honestly we didn't know how sharp he was going to be and he was good,'' Seaman coach Trent Oliva said. "We were going to have a few opportunities and you've got to be able to cash those in and we were unable to do that.
"They did have a good start where they got to play from on top and we were chasing the whole way and playing from behind and when you do that the room for error is pretty small.''
Eisenhower (18-4) scored the only runs it would need in its first at bat as senior Aaron Dimit singled and senior William Rogers doubled with one out and Horn, a knocked in one run with a single and sophomore Carter Pabst plated a second run with a sacrifice fly.
Eisenhower added two more runs in the fourth without the benefit of a hit and added a run in the fifth on sophomore Jared Cobb's RBI single and scored its final two runs in the sixth on Horn's two-run single.
Seaman (18-5) got just one runner as far as third base in the game as the Vikings had just three singles off Horn, a Wichita State commit who walked one and hit a batter.
Seaman, which has won nine state titles, made its state-record 19th straight appearance in the state tournament but has lost in the first round the past three seasons.
"It was a good season but I wouldn't say a great season just because of the expectations we have here,'' Oliva said. "This is three years in a row we haven't been able to get to the second day and that's just something that we're going to come back and try to put ourselves in this situation again next year and hopefully be on top and get to that day two.''
Eisenhower will face No. 1 seed Bishop Carroll, a 6-0 winner over Great Bend, in the 1:15 p.m. semifinal while De Soto will face St. Thomas Aquinas in the 11 a.m. semi.
No. 2 seed De Soto advanced with a 3-2 win over Spring Hill while Aquinas beat Goddard, 7-0.
EISENHOWER 7, SEAMAN 0
Eisenhower (18-4) 200 212 0 -- 7 9 1
Seaman (18-5) 000 000 0 -- 0 3 1
W -- Horn. L -- Vawter. 2B -- Eisenhower: Rogers. 3B -- Eisenhower: Brown.
