By NICK McQUEEN

nmcqueen@dailynews.net

In his 28 years of coaching baseball at Hays High School, Frank Leo has taken chances, but has also played it safe a time or two.

There wasn't much question, though, what the Indians were going to do when faced with Friday's rare occasion on the road in the Western Athletic Conference.

Due to Tuesday's rainout of Game 2 with WAC foe Dodge City at the HHS field, the Indians and Red Demons planned on continuing the game Friday in Dodge City --¬ after the Indians played a doubleheader to close the regular season in Liberal, which also was a make-up game from earlier in the year.

Credit given to the Indian players by Leo, the Indians worked the rare situation to its advantage, sweeping all three games in two different locations on the same day. They captured a share of the 2008 WAC title and locked up a home bid for the Class 5A regional this week.

Closing out their regular season at 16-4 overall and 7-1 in WAC action, the Indians are the No. 2 seed behind their conference title co-holder, Great Bend. Hays High's first game is Tuesday at 2 p.m. against No. 7 seed Emporia. The winner will advance to the winner of the No. 3 McPherson (15-5) vs. No. 6 Salina South (6-14) matchup.

Since dropping a 9-5 decision to Salina Central, the rare tripleheader pushed the Indians' win streak to five in a row, and they came from behind against Liberal in both games to get it done, claiming a 6-2 win in the opener Friday, and erasing a huge early deficit for a 20-11 win in the middle game.

After that, the team boarded the bus, and headed over an hour down the road for a late-night makeup with Dodge City. The Indians had built a 4-1 lead in the second inning when the game started in Hays on Tuesday, and held on for a 9-7 win.

A loss in any of the three games would have cost Hays High the host for the regional, and a share of the WAC crown.

"We figured why not do it," Leo said. "We had a lot at stake, but we've got a great bunch of kids that have battled all year. These guys were determined to finish the day."

Dodge City lost two games in a triangular earlier in the evening at Great Bend, and was planning on the Hays High makeup, regardless of whether the Indians needed the game to force a coin flip with McPherson for the No. 2 seed.

"When a team goes through all the work to get the game in, you need to play it,"¬ Leo said. "You've got to win no matter where you play, so if we stubbed our toe and lost the No. 2 seed, so be it. But, these guys showed up and got it done."

"Our kids' determination was just fantastic," the coach added. "They were on a mission."

In the first win over Liberal (12-8), Hays High used two pitchers, with junior Kelton Rule (3-2) picking up the win in five innings. Hays High erased a 2-1 lead by scoring four runs in the sixth. Senior Sam Rohleder pitched the sixth and seventh for the save. Senior Matt Malott drove in a pair of runs and senior Nathan Meier drove in three on a 2-for-3 day game at the plate for the Indians.

In the second game, Hays High fell down 10-2 early, and battled back for a 12-11 lead before putting up eight runs in the seventh.

"That's a pretty huge deficit to overcome, but the next thing I knew, we were up 12-11. They turned the tide and got after it," Leo said. "Liberal went back up, then we put eight up against a good pitcher.

"Playing in those situations was a great preparation for what we'll face this week,"¬ he added. "After that, we grabbed a sandwich, got on the bus, and headed for Dodge."

The Indians needed Sam Rohleder this time to provide some late heroics. Junior starter Logan Downing continued his game start from Tuesday, but gave up six runs in the sixth with a 9-1 Indian lead. Sophomore Derek Meyer relieved Downing, giving up a hit, before Rohleder closed out the game and struck out Dodge City's final batter on four pitches.

"He wanted the baseball and that's great to see out of a senior," Leo said. "Things got pretty hectic, but he really came in and slammed the door."

The win for the unbeaten Downing, saved by Rohleder, was No. 6 on the season. Tuesday's Game 1 starter was up in the air and will be decided when the Indians regroup Monday morning.

"It's going to be a great tournament," Leo said. "Everyone is 0-0, and if a pitcher is throwing well, he can get you to that championship game. Our most important game, though, is the next one against Emporia."