Rattlers Lose To Golden Giants

From the Capital Journal:
      The Topeka Golden Giants weathered Rossville’s typical early onslaught, then snapped the Rattlers’ three-game winning streak.
      Cam Huber’s RBI single in the sixth inning broke a five-all tie and began back-to-back two-run innings as the Giants defeated the Rattlers 9-7 in a Mid-Plains League series opener Thursday at Jerry Robertson Field.
      Topeka took the lead in the sixth as Emporia State’s Johnny Hodges reached base on a catcher’s interference call. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Johnathan Mariani, stole third base and scored in front of the Huber single, which was just to the right and under the glove of a diving third baseman. Huber would steal third as well and score on a throwing error by the Rossville catcher to add an insurance run in the sixth.
      Ben Dalke tied the game in the fifth inning with a two-run home run to left field. Dalke’s bomb came with two outs and Lance Barkley on second base — Barkley was hit by a pitch and then stole second base to get in scoring position.
      “A big swing like that energizes people and makes you feel like you are back in the ball game,” Golden Giants coach John Tetuan said. “Baseball is a different game and two runs can feel like 20 runs depending on how the game is going. That swing got us the momentum and we took it from there.”
      Score early and score often had been the mantra for Rossville of late — for the fourth straight night the Rattlers bombarded the field with an early offensive onslaught — but it was unable to hold onto an early lead.
      Rossville scored runs in the first three innings as, in the first, Colton Kooser hit a two-run single and Michael Higgins followed with a run-scoring single of his own. The Rattlers added single runs in the second and third innings with Jonathan Valenzuela-Reece driving in one run and another run scoring on a Topeka error.
      “They hit themselves into three runs in the first inning and then we gave them two runs,” Tetuan said. “We just found a way to get back in the game — locked it down a little, and found a way to finish.”
      Riley Krane drove in two runs for the Golden Giants and shortstop Ryan Ihle scored two runs hitting in the No. 2 hole. Brent Roberts earned the win in relief for Topeka and Ihle pitched a perfect ninth to earn the save.
      Rossville (18-12) played uncharacteristically poor defense, making four errors that led to multiple unearned runs in the loss.
      “The Giants are a good team and are going to battle you for nine innings,” Rattlers coach Tobi Cowdin said. “We kind of shot ourselves in the foot a little on defense, giving up some bases and easy runs, but the Giants are going to put pressure on you all game long.”
      Aggressive baserunning by the Giants (17-6) led to a team total of seven stolen bases, four by Huber, the leadoff man. Kooser finished with three hits, two RBIs, two stolen bases and scored a run for Rossville.
      The Rattlers and Golden Giants will play the second of a three-game set at 7 p.m. Friday.
■ The shorthanded Topeka Senators forfeited Friday’s rescheduled game against the Rattlers and will not compete in the postseason. The Senators finished the season with a 9-22 record.
Rattlers  311 000 020 — 7 11 4
Giants    102 022 20X — 9 7 3
Head, Christen (5), Mah (6), Hosey (8) and Nerz, Valenzuela-Reece (6). Heath, Roberts (6), Ihle (9) and Tapia. W — Roberts. L — Mah. S — Ihle. 2B — Rattlers: Schaareman; Giants: Tapia. HR — Giants: Dalke.