Cooper tosses shutout in Larks split with El Dorado
By The Hays Daily News
EL DORADO -- Patrick Cooper gave the Hays Larks the outing they needed to bounce back from a loss in Sunday's opener. The Eastern Kentucky right-hander tossed a complete-game shutout of the El Dorado Broncos to force a split afterHays lost 5-2 to El Dorado. The Larks won 4-0 in the nightcap to move to 14-8 on the year at 10-5 in Jayhawk League play.
The El Dorado series was postponed two days before the teams finally were able to play a doubleheader Sunday. The third game of the series is scheduled to be made up when the Broncos visit Hays in two weeks.
In Sunday's nightcap, Cooper went the distance in the seven-inning contest, striking out 11 after giving up El Dorado's lone hit in the first inning. He had no walks, and the Larks had no errors, allowing just one El Dorado baserunner.
The Larks offense got a good game from Brandon Eckerle, who went 2-for-4 and drove in and scored a run, while Billy Boockford went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Hays scored two runs in the third and one run the first and sixth innings, repsectively, to take the win.
In Sunday's opener, El Dorado (12-11, 8-8) capitalized on three Lark errors to score three unearned runs off Jason Stacy and Steven Mazur.
The duo combined for six strikeouts and allowed seven El Dorado hits.
Rich Michalek went 4-for-4 for Hays with a run driven in. He had all but three of Hays' seven hits.
The Larks are now in second place in the league standings with the split. Derby picked up a pair of road wins at Dodge City to move to 11-5 in league play to take the half-game lead.
The Larks will be at home Tuesday, facing Dodge City for the first time this season, in a 7 p.m. contest at Larks Park. Hays then travels to Dodge City on Wednesday, before playing at Derby in a three-game series over the weekend.
Tuesday's free admission is courtesy of Bank of Hays and Signs Designs.
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