By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

Hays Legion catcher Jay Sanders had a short break before his sixth inning at-bat Thursday afternoon.

With the bases loaded and nobody out, Salina coach Ryan Kolzow walked to the mound and talked with pitcher Tyler Benton. Sanders went midway down the third-base line and met Hays coach M=ike Jenner.

"It's hero time, right?," Jenner recalled. "(Jay said) you betcha."

And Sanders delivered.

The Hays catcher smoked a Benton fastball deep into the right-center field gap for a two-run double that cut Salina's lead to 6-3. The at-bat also was the first RBI hit in a 14-run, 18-batter inning that saw Sanders bat twice.

Sanders' hit and the offensive surge propelled Hays to a 17-7 eight-inning victory over Salina in the Class AAA Zone 7 championship game. Hays (28-14) went 3-0 in zone play and will advance to the state tournament in Pittsburg next week for the first time since 2004.

It's the first time any player on the Legion squad has reached state at the varsity level ¬­-- in high school or summer ball.

"It feels good," Sanders said with a smile. "Finally came through in a big game. Fought back and got it."

Sanders produced a frustrating night against Salina in the winner's bracket game Wednesday. Batting ninth, Sanders went 1-for-5 (Hays had 16 hits) and flied out three times.

On Thursday, he made a slight change -- and had a little luck.

Sanders raised his hands one inch so he could center the ball instead of popping it up.

"I knew I was lowering my back shoulder, getting underneath the ball," he said.

Sanders popped out his first at-bat in the third inning. Two innings later, his mother, Sherry, went to the restroom and her son nailed a triple off the center field wall.

"She probably was a little nervous," Jay said.

In the sixth, with Hays down 6-1, Sanders came up with the bases loaded. Sherry Sanders went to the restroom again and Jay discussed the upcoming at-bat with Jenner.

"We were talking about what I thought I was going to see as a nine hole," Sanders said. "We thought that they were going to try to get ahead of me real quick, looking for a dead-red fastball. That's what I set on."

Benton threw Sanders a fastball and the catcher uncorked his second straight extra-base hit.

"That's exactly what I was looking for," Sanders said with a smile and laugh. "It helped out a lot."

Jenner said the triple and double were two of the best hits Sanders had all year.

"He has hit pretty well, but pretty well is not good enough for him," Jenner said. "He is harder on himself, but this is the hardest that he has hit the ball all summer, those two hits he had. He just crushed them. If he pulled them a little bit more I think he probably would have gotten one of them out."

The hit moved Hays within three runs -- and kept Sanders' mom in the bathroom as good luck.

"I had to stay in there," Sherry Sanders said. "I stood in there fanning the door trying to keep cool."

After Jay Sanders' hit, 10 straight (14 total) Eagles reached base. Sanders walked and scored his second time up. By the end of inning, Hays has batted for more than half an hour and scored 14 runs. Salina had to use three pitchers to get three outs.

"They run out of pitchers," Sanders said. "We got to their bullpen and that helped out a lot. We all did a tremendous job."

And it produced a trip to state.

Sam Rohleder produces

Sam Rohleder has been the main catalyst in the spring for Hays High and during the summer with the Legion. At Hays High, Rohleder batted a team-high .395 and led the Indians in hits (32) and RBIs (24).

In the summer, Rohleder has also hit in the middle of the lineup.

"Sam has been rock solid at the plate all year," Jenner said. "(Kelton) Rule has been good all summer, but he is kind of hit and miss. Sam has never really had a stretch where he has gone more than three at-bats without a hit.

Rohleder delivered in the last two games of the zone tournament. He went 7-for-10 with a walk, hit by pitch, five RBIs and two runs scored.

In Thursday's game, Rohleder reached base all six times, collected five hits, drove in four runs and had two extra-base hits, a triple and double.

In the 14-run sixth inning, he delivered an RBI double to right field and tripled in two more in his second at-bat.

"He just strings them together," Jenner said. "I just wish his arm was more solid. He would go play somewhere easily next year if he wanted to."

Rohleder, forced to mainly play first because of a sore arm, also provided a lift in the dugout. With Hays down 6-5 in the sixth, Salina changed pitchers.

Jenner said the Eagles usually don't say much in the dugout, but Rohleder started everyone talking.

"They start jabbering a little bit," Jenner said. "(Derek) Meyer, his concentration is not real good when you do that."

The inning eventually produced 14 runs and Meyer didn't record an out.

Quotable

"I love these guys. They are just like my '97 team only not as crazy. They don't have the power and they are not as nuts, but on the field they get it done in different ways and they are just a good ball club."

-- Hays coach Mike Jenner, who coached Hays to the state tournament in 1997 and 1998.