Capahas' season ends with 7-3 loss to Newton Rebels

Short on pitching, the Capahas were desperate for timely hitting to remain alive in the National Baseball Congress World Series on Tuesday.

The Capahas fell short in that department against the Newton (Kansas) Rebels on Tuesday afternoon in Wichita, Kansas.

The Capahas, led by three hits by Alex Heuring, managed nine hits but scored just three times in a 7-3 loss that eliminated them from the tournament.

Capahas manager Jess Bolen was left lamenting hard-hit balls at Rebels players, but little else after his team went 2-2 in the tournament and finished the season with a 17-6 record.

"I'm not disappointed going 2-2," Bolen said. "We came out against the best competition in the nation and played .500 baseball. I would have liked to have done better, but I'm proud of this bunch. They knew we were shorthanded and that we were leaving some talent behind, and they come out and they played hard, and that's all you ask as a coach. Play hard, play the game and let it fall where it falls. And I was really impressed, where we really stunk up the place something awful in Game 2, I was really impressed with how we bounced back. That kind of takes the bad taste out of your mouth."

The Capahas' Brady Wright catches a pop fly in foul territory during Tuesday's game.

Bolen was referring to a 23-2, five-inning loss his team suffered against the Liberal Bee Jays on Sunday that followed an opening win against the Jasper (Indiana) Reds.

His squad bounced back from the Liberal beating Monday with a 13-5 rune-rule win against the Wichita Alumni, a game in which the Capahas banged out six extra-base hits.

However, the Capahas were running low on pitching after the loss to Liberal.

"When you get into the loser's bracket, you really get into your pitching staff deep," Bolen said. "We would have been OK had we got by this game because Dylan Lynn, who pitched the first game, would have rolled around again. So we would have had our pitching lined up for about the next three days, no problem. But Newton has a good team, a real good team. They played good baseball and deserved to win the game."

Bolen turned to Cody Heisserer to pitch for the first time all season against Newton, and the Notre Dame Regional High School graduate held Newton to one run over the first two innings.

After Newton took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, the Capahas tied the game with back-to-back doubles by Laban Petzoldt and Heuring with two outs in the third.

However, Newton quickly regained the lead for good when Jason Jones led off the bottom of the third with a home run to left field. A hit batsman and a one-out double by Tyler Cunningham added a run to increase the lead to 3-1.

Newton added two runs in the fourth, opening the frame with a pair of singles that ended the day for Heisserer.

"I actually thanked him on the mound because he had not pitched an inning all summer," Bolen said. "He can pitch, don't think he can't, but anyone needs some preparation before you come out here and face this kind of competition. I asked Cody if he'd start and give us three innings, four innings, whatever he could, and he did. And he was not bad at all."

Brady Wright relieved and allowed RBI singles to the first two hitters before retiring the next three batters without further damage.

Newton added a pair of runs in the fifth to extend its lead to 7-1.

The Capahas scored two runs in the eighth inning, with two-out, back-to-back RBI singles by Kyle James and Wright ending the day for Newton starter Tyler Bishop.

"He changed speeds pretty good, but he really wasn't the kind of pitcher that should shut you down," Bolen said.

Bishop allowed nine hits, walked two and gave up three earned runs over 7 2/3 innings.

Jacob Gibbs struck out the final batter of the eighth and then pitched a hitless ninth to close out the win.

"We did fine with the bats, we just didn't put anything together like we did the night before," Bolen said.

Petzoldt and Drew Morecraft both finished with two hits for the Capahas,

Jordan Rousselle and Jason Jones, who batted Nos. 2 and 3, respectively for the Rebels, both went 3 for 5. Joel Frias, who batted No. 4, went 2 for 5.

"It was a game that they played better than us and hit the ball situationally better than us, so they walk away with a 7-3 win," Bolen said. "On another day, I think we can play with that team, no problem."

Capahas 001 000 080 -- 3 9 2

Newton 102 220 00x -- 7 12 0

WP -- Tyler Bishop. LP -- Cody Heisserer. 2B -- Laban Petzoldt (C), Alex Heuring (C), Tyler Cunningham (N). 3B -- Bowe Behymer (N). Multiple hits -- Capahas: Petzoldt 2-5, Heuring 3-5, Drew Morecraft 2-3; Newton: Jordan Rousselle 3-5, Jason Jones 3-5, Joel Frias 2-5, Tyler Cunningham 2-5.