By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

When summer started, Hays Legion baseball coach Mike Jenner was uncertain whether Riley Kaus, a third baseman-outfielder who started part of the spring on varsity for Hays High School as a freshman, would play for his club.

Once Thomas More Prep-Marian formed its own summer team and the Hays Baseball Association faced a numbers crunch, Kaus was moved up to the Legion from the Junior Legion. Jenner told his Kaus and his father to play 10 games and then decide between the Legion and Junior Legion clubs.

"See if you think you fit, and you guys make the choice," Jenner said. "If you want to go down before we have to have rosters set, then you can do that, and he stuck with it."

Kaus, the lone freshman from the spring season on the Hays Legion, has emerged as one of the team's best hitters and paced a balanced offense Saturday afternoon at Larks Park. Kaus, helped by Jenner's approach of working deep counts, reached base all four times in Hays' 10-5 victory against Colby in the Wild West Fest tournament. Kaus scored twice in the first three innings as the Eagles took an 8-1 lead.

"We have been trying to wait on the pitch," Kaus said. "Get the first pitch a strike, let it go by. Wait for it, let it get deep. I think that has helped our batting a little bit."

Kaus, who finished 2-for-3, had two singles, a walk, reached on an error and scored two runs.

Overall, seven of nine Eagles reached base at least twice as Hays collected 12 hits.

"He is a gutsy kid, he will do everything that you ask," Jenner said. "If you tell him to run through the fence and catch one, he is going to try to go do it. He is a great kid. It's going to be nice to see him get bigger and stronger and better. He is going to be one of Hays' best players."

Hays, 12-12-1 and on a season-high four-game winning streak, moved to 3-0 and won Pool A in the tournament. The Eagles will face rival Great Bend today at 9 a.m. in a winners' bracket semifinal at Larks Park.

The winner will move into the championship game at 4 p.m. at Larks Park. The Eagles finished 2-3 and in fourth place last summer in its own tourney. Jesse Hart, the team's top pitcher this summer, will start for Hays against the Chiefs. He beat Great Bend on Monday in a regular season contest.

"We are playing real well right now, getting some wins together, getting some more confidence and get to play Great Bend tomorrow," Jenner said.

Kaus has helped Hays throughout the summer. With Hays High, Kaus took over the third base job in late season and batted .357 (5-for-14). At the start of summer, Kaus "wanted to" play with the varsity squad. Helped by all-state players Kelton Rule and Jay Sanders, Kaus has become one of the team's best hitters.

"Earlier this season, I was a little nervous, but as the season went on, I got more comfortable each game," he said. "The team has been talking to me and making me feel better. Just like certain situations and everything, what to do. If I have any trouble, I just ask them, and they tell me what to do."

Jenner's approach also has benefited Kaus. When Jenner played, he liked to work the count. With his team, Jenner has discussed seeing more pitches, especially later in the game or when Hays is trailing.

"I don't get on them if they are swinging at a first pitch fastball," Jenner said. "If you are going to sit on it, you better hit it. Don't pop it up. Don't do something stupid. If they do that, they are fine, but otherwise, make that pitcher work out there."

Kaus, who said he "maybe is a little more flustered" when he sees more pitches and works the count, has still thrived in long at-bats. He carries a .375 average with four doubles. His long at-bats have helped teammate Logan Downing improve his plate discipline and batting average.

"Riley does a great job of it," Jenner said. "Ever since the first couple doubleheaders, he will go in almost all the time and get one strike on him, go deep, deep, deep, see five, six pitches and then get a base hit."

On Saturday, Hays defeated a Colby team consisting of many players (minus ace pitcher Levi Schlick) that helped the Colby High School team beat Hays High in the spring, win the Western Plains Diamond Classic and finish as Class 4A state runner-up. Colby took a 1-0 lead in the first before Hays scored five runs in the second and three in the third.

"In the first inning, we went up there and our first three hitters didn't do real well. I said, 'Hey guys, enough of this (stuff), hit like you know you can hit,' " Jenner said. "And we got some runs."

Jenner saw "quite a bit" of deep counts in a second inning that produced 10 batters and five runs. With one out, catcher Jay Sanders walked. Kaus, the designated hitter, followed with a broken bat single to left. After a popup and a walk, Justin Klaus, Matt Malott, Dylan Karst and Logan Downing delivered four straight singles against losing pitcher Brandon Rasmussen.

"The first pitcher was kind of slow, but we adapted and we hit the ball pretty good," Kaus said.

Starter Dan Moritz worked 32âÑ3 solid innings before Travis Budke (1-0), in his first Legion appearance since joining the team last week, tossed 31âÑ3 scoreless innings for the win.