Baseball Earns Split on Senior Weekend against Baker

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. and KANSAS CITY, Mo. – In a unique late season home-and-home series between two local foes, both Avila (20-25) and Baker (19-26) earned victories on their respective Senior Days on their home fields, with the Wildcats prevailing on Friday night and the Eagles rebounding to win on Saturday afternoon at The Z.

The two former HAAC foes faced off for the first time in a couple of years in both teams' final non-conference series of the 2024 campaign. The weekend was set up well by both squads, giving each an opportunity to celebrate and honor their seniors in a late-season contest that doesn't carry as much weight as an in-conference game would. Avila honored all eight members of its 2024 senior class after the game on Saturday, and celebrated them appropriately with a wild victory, their landmark 20^th of the season.

But first, the Wildcats earned a victory in the series opener on Friday evening in Baldwin City. Eli Young kickstarted his monstrous weekend with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to give the Wildcats an early lead, and they never looked back. Two innings later, Young struck again, this time with a homer worth three runs, staking Baker to a 6-0 lead.

And that's when the Eagles woke up. Avila erupted for four runs in the seventh, highlighted by a two-run triple from Landon Vahle, to climb all the way back to within 7-5. But a pinch-hit two-run homer by Jaxon Holzem killed Avila's momentum, and an RBI single from Rusten Traxler in the ninth was all the Eagles would get late as Baker prevailed 10-6 in the series opener.

Just a few hours later, both teams made their way to Kansas City for the second game of the series. Walks hurt both teams early before hits began to mount late in what quickly became a slugfest of a contest. All seven healthy Eagle seniors made an appearance on Senior Day, including a start for Colton King in his first appearance in more than a year.

King struck out the first batter he faced before Dominic Davies entered to get the Eagles through the first inning, and then Zach Dillman came up and continued his torrid recent stretch by blasting a three-run homer in the bottom of the first, giving the Eagles a lead they would never relinquish. RBIs in the second inning from Dillman and Tyler King extended the Eagles' lead to 6-1, but Baker pulled three back on yet another homer by Young.

King, Albert Guerrero and JD Leslie all were excellent at finding ways to get on base all game long in the 6, 7 and 8 spots in the Eagle order, and they were all instrumental in helping Avila get two runs back in the fourth. Baker pulled one back with an RBI triple from Jon Jenkins off Armando Arguello, who was otherwise excellent over three full innings of relief on his Senior Day.

The Eagles led by three at the halfway point of the contest before exploding for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth to blow the game wide open. King and Guerrero both drove in runs without the benefits of a hit before Robby Cable and Bryce Culp hit consecutive two-run singles to give Avila a double-digit lead, 15-5.

The Wildcats had one more push left in them, engineered by none other than Eli Young, who clubbed his fourth home run of the series, a grand slam, spoiling Paul DiBella's Avila debut and pulling Baker back within five. Alex Walton entered to help Avila escape the jam, and the offense went right back to work against the Baker bullpen, with an RBI double from Guerrero and a two-run home run from Paxton Andrade helping right the ship. Holton Miller and Corbin Hamman combined to take the Eagles through the final two frames, wrapping up an 18-11 win on Senior Day.

All eight members of the Avila baseball senior class – Culp, Davies, Walton, Leslie, DiBella, King, Arguello and Ronnie Nowak – were honored after Saturday's game for their dedication to and impact on the Avila baseball program. Some of those guys have been Eagles for three or four years, some for only one, but they all will be missed as they prepare to move on to their future endeavors.

Up next, Avila baseball returns to KCAC play with a crucial series. The Eagles will travel to York, Nebraska for a pair of games against the Panthers on Tuesday that could make or break their postseason aspirations with only one week left in the regular season. Tuesday's doubleheader is expected to begin at 1 PM; as always, you can watch all the action on the KCAC Network.