Baseball’s KCAC Tournament Debut Ends on Day Two

GREAT BEND, Kan. – Avila baseball's first trip to the KCAC Tournament was ended by Friends in a tight, competitive game on Friday morning in Great Bend, where the No. 6-seeded Falcons (29-22) eked out a 2-1 win over the No. 7-seeded Eagles (22-30) on day two of the 2024 KCAC Baseball Championship.

After a strong start from Cashen Schranz in Avila's tournament opener on Thursday, on Friday Matt Carpenter and the Eagles trusted the pitching duo that helped get the Eagles to the tournament in the first place: Alex Walton and Logan Empson, who pitched extremely well both individually and collectively Friday to more than give their team a chance to win, just as they have done nearly all season. The pair combined to allow two runs – only one of which was earned – on nine hits with one walk against eight strikeouts.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, Friends' pair of pitchers performed just that little bit better. KCAC Freshman of the Year Brett Black allowed just one run on two hits over seven frames, and though Avila was able to get some traction against Nolan Crumrine in the final two innings, the Eagles could not manufacture a tying run in a nail-biting 2-1 win for the Falcons.

Friends struck first against Walton and the Eagles in the second inning thanks to a leadoff home run by Niquan Benjamin, the Falcon second baseman's first homer of the year. Walton did well to navigate traffic throughout the outing, stranding two baserunners aboard on three different occasions before the bottom of the Friends order came through in a big way in the sixth with an RBI single from nine-hole hitter Melwin Perez driving in an unearned run to make it 2-0.

That spelled the end for Walton after one final strong start in his brilliant senior season. Empson was excellent in long relief, allowing just two hits and no runs with five punchouts over the final 2.1 innings to give his offense a chance, a chance they finally took advantage of in the seventh, where the Eagles finally came through against Black.

Ricky Dober sent a warning shot with a deep flyout to center, and in the next at-bat Zach Dillman delivered a solo homer to left to finally get the Eagles on the board. Crumrine finally succeeded Black to begin the eighth inning and the Eagles got a little traffic against him off singles from Gio Armas in the eighth and then from Dillman in the ninth, but Avila could never scratch across that tying run, leading Friends to the hard-fought 2-1 win.

Great Bend has been the dream destination for Avila baseball for years now, and this year represents a dream achieved for Carpenter, his staff, and his team, many of whom have been striving for this for three years or more. Now, this program has proven they have what it takes to get to this point, and with a large crew of these players in line to return next year and the foundation now established, the Eagles already have their sights set on more postseason berths in the near future.