By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

PITTSBURG - The Hays Senior Legion team won 29 games and advanced to the Class AAA state tournament because of a juggernaut offense easily capable of scoring double digit runs.

That high-octane attack scored 13 runs in the first three innings and helped Hays take an early 10-run lead against Pittsburg in the second round of state Saturday night.

But the Eagles, for the first time all season, couldn't hold the big lead against Pittsburg, a team that unlike Hays didn't have to play a first round game and had all of its pitchers fresh.

Host Pittsburg, helped by a 12-run eighth inning that featured 13 straight runners reaching base and 18 batters total, battled back and defeated Hays 23-16 in a wild game at Jaycee Park. The game featured 10 pitchers, 40 hits, eight errors (seven by Pittsburg) and lasted three and a half hours.

"They are a good ball club," Sam Rohleder said.

"They hit well, they hit extremely well. I was impressed with their hitting. Entering the game, we knew they could hit, but I wouldn't say they are better than us, especially because they didn't have a zone, didn't have to play yesterday. That's a huge, huge factor in this."

"I am not trying to make excuses, they beat us tonight," Rohleder added. "I would like to play them with a game under their belts, too, or give us Kelton Rule (who threw a shutout Friday against Andover) back."

Hays will play against Lawrence in a losers' bracket game today at 11 am (KAYS 1400 AM) against Lawrence. Travis Budke (6-1), the only fresh arm left, will start.

"I think we are still in it," Rohleder said. "I think we are just worried about the arms, as many as we went through tonight in the eighth inning, especially. Hopefully we have enough pitching to get back up into the top side of the bracket."

It was the largest deficit the Pittsburg Legion team had ever recovered from.

"This one is on me," Legion head coach Mike Jenner said.

It was the first time all season the Legion lost after scoring in double figures. They had been 11-0 when tallying at least 10 runs, 15-1 when they scored nine or more.

Saturday, though, was anything but unconventional. Hays used seven pitchers, including five in the eighth inning, as Pittsburg rolled up 24 hits in the first eight innings. The 12 runs was similar to the 14 Hays put up in the sixth inning against Salina in the zone final.

"We know how Salina feels," Malott said.

Jesse Hart, who spent the summer pitching for the Junior Legion, pitched the last six outs after Hays effectively ran out of arms.

The 23 runs were 12 more than Hays had allowed in a game all season.

The Eagles had only allowed double figures by an opponent three times all summer, all coming in the first 13 games.

No team had tallied more than 11 against the Eagles - one fewer than Pittsburg had in the eighth.

Early on, though, Hays delivered another offensive attack, the same formula that produced 51 runs in three zone games and an average of 6.3 runs per contest in the regular season.

The Eagles hit Pittsburg ace Drew Beasley (1.06 earned run average at Fort Scott Community College in the spring, 1.60 ERA this summer) in the bottom of the first on a hot humid night where the game time temperature was 148 degrees on the mound and 120 at the plate. Several pitchers, including Matt Maskus, had trouble gripping the ball.

Pittsburg scored three in the top of the first off Hays starter Dave Klaus.

Then Hays came back against Pittsburg, a team used to winning - and had earned an automatic bid into the state because they were the host and didn't have to play a first round game after Buhler couldn't make it to state after they lost several players. Post 64 finished third in state last season and is full of players from Pittsburg-St. Mary's/Colgan, five-time defending Class 2-1A state champions.

Hays' offense, though, took control early. Beasley lasted five outs as the Eagles responded with two in the first and took the lead with seven in the second.

Hays took a 13-3 lead in the third off four more runs before Spears shut down the Eagles' offense and allowed one run in five innings.

"We were up and we got a little too relaxed at the plate," Malott said.

And then Pittsburg started chipping back - and eventually took the lead.

Pittsburg, down 10, scored three in the fourth, two in the fifth and two more in the sixth off Matt Maskus and Logan Downing.

Facing Downing, they scored two more in the seventh off a two-run double from Adam McCormick, his third double of the game, and cut the lead to 14-11.

And then Pittsburg tallied 12 in the eighth.

Hays went through four pitchers before they got an out.

Downing started the inning and loaded the bases. He was replaced by Sam Rohleder, Hays High's closer in the spring. Rohleder, who had thrown five innings all summer because of an arm injury, faced four batters.

All four reached base.

"I think it was a combination of they could hit the ball real well and we couldn't throw strikes when we needed it," Malott said. "There were some plays a few times that we needed to make and we didn't make it."

Tanner Smith delivered the inning's major blow with a grand slam to right-center field, the game's first homer.