Baseball Concludes 2023 Season at Southwestern

EL DORADO, Kan. – Avila baseball (18-32, 9-24 KCAC) wrapped up the 2023 season this weekend by heading west to take on Southwestern (11-38, 5-28 KCAC), where the Moundbuilders finished their season on a high note by winning all three games.

Serious weather in central Kansas – that stretched out east into Kansas City for much of Friday – forced a Friday/Saturday series to shift to Saturday/Sunday, moving off the Southwestern campus in Winfield to McDonald Stadium in nearby El Dorado. All three games were competitive, but ultimately, the Eagles' recent struggles against the Moundbuilders continued, and Avila will end the 2023 campaign on a 13-game losing streak after matching last season's win total of 18 earlier in April.

Slow starts were not the problem for the Eagles in this series: Avila led in the early stages in all three games, but Southwestern rallied all three times to ruin Avila's chances of winning 20 games in 2023. Landon Vahle kickstarted an excellent weekend by walking to lead off Saturday's series opener and scoring on a base hit from Jack Virden to open the scoring on the weekend, and after SC tied things briefly in the second Avila surged back in front with three in the third courtesy of a solo homer from Vahle and a two-run double by Ricky Dober.

That put the Eagles up 4-1 but they would not score again. Strong winds hampered Avila's pitching staff once again and Southwestern, despite not truly playing at home, took full advantage: Joseph Finder homered twice, driving in a total of five runs, to help the Moundbuilders score the final eight runs of the game and win the series opener 9-4.

Saturday's second game was scheduled for seven innings but it was still one of the highest-scoring games the Eagles played in this season. Avila once again struck first with RBIs in the first inning from Virden and Paxton Andrade and then a run-scoring single from Dober in the third, putting the visitors on top 3-0. Southwestern wielded the long ball once again, getting home runs from three different players to take a 5-3 lead after three.

That lead didn't last long. Avila pieced together four hits in the fourth and brought home three runs thanks to Bryce Culp and Virden, putting Avila back on top 6-5 in the fourth. Southwestern quickly tied it in the bottom half, and the Builders then went up 9-6 off Andrew Brown's second home run of the game.

Ultimately, SC stretched that lead to 11-7 after six innings, and it looked like all was lost for the Eagles – but Landon Vahle had other plans. In the final inning of the 7-inning affair Jacob Nevels and Tallon Vanetti walked and Travis Curry singled, loading the bases with two away. Up stepped Vahle, who blasted a grand slam to right field to almost miraculously tie the game.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the magic did not last long. Tyler Seboldt led off the bottom of the inning with a double and Finder chopped a single into center to score the winning run, giving Southwestern a 12-11 victory in seven innings. The teams combined for 30 hits and 23 runs; both Vahle and Virden drove in four runs for the Eagles, and Virden, Culp and Curry all had three hits.

With the weather starting to settle down, the two teams returned to El Dorado for the series finale on Sunday. For the third straight game the Eagles struck first, scoring three runs in the third inning off RBIs from Kurt Trotter, Andrade and Dober. Culp then drove in two more, unconventionally, on a sacrifice fly that sent Southwestern's right fielder crashing into the fence, giving the Eagles their largest lead of the weekend, 5-0.

Chase VanSteenburg was stellar through the front five innings but the Moundbuilders finally made some inroads against him in the sixth, spoiling Avila's shot to cruise to a win in the finale. Zach Boone had the biggest hit, a three-run homer to right, helping SC rally to tie the score at 5-5 after six complete.

The Eagles briefly went back in front on another RBI knock from Dober in the seventh, but Southwestern answered again, tying the game on a passed ball and then taking the lead for the first time on a two-run double from Caleb Yun on senior weekend. Southwestern added an insurance run in the eighth and the Eagles threatened, loading the bases in the top of the ninth but the Moundbuilders turned their fourth double play of the game to prevent any runs from scoring. Southwestern won the finale 9-6 to sweep the series. Andrade led the Eagles with three hits; both Dober and Culp had two RBI.

Although Avila baseball fell short of its dreams of qualifying for the KCAC Tournament in Great Bend next week, the Eagles made some serious strides in their first full year under longtime assistant Matt Carpenter. Especially early in the season, the team showed remarkable perseverance and fortitude – all those rallies and walk-offs are proof positive – and even though the team faded down the stretch, there were a lot of positives to take away from this season.

There's no secret that the team will need to retool the roster in the offseason with a hefty senior class set to depart, but with Carpenter and his crew of veteran Eagles at the helm the future still looks bright for an Avila baseball program that has dreams of returning to conference prominence in the very near future.