Avila Comes up Just Short in Slugfest Series against (RV) Tabor

HILLSBORO, Kan. – With the Hillsboro winds howling and two teams ready to rake, (RV) Tabor (27-8, 21-4 KCAC) outslugged Avila (17-20, 13-12 KCAC) in a high-octane series this weekend at Bluejay Field. The Bluejays won all three games, but Avila is still firmly in the KCAC Tournament picture with only one month left in the regular season.

Hillsboro is known for its heavy winds this time of year, and Bluejay Field certainly lends itself towards big offensive numbers. Tabor boasts one of the best offenses in the KCAC, a crew that is towards the top of the NAIA in a lot of numbers, and certainly knows how to play to their home field advantage. The Bluejays have also dominated the all-time series against Avila, especially at home.

All of those factors meant Matt Carpenter and the Eagles knew they would be in for a tough test this weekend, but it's a test they certainly passed. Avila ultimately lost all three games, which obviously is mission critical, but the Eagles were more than competitive in all three games and could well have won one if not two of the three – and that's not something that most road teams that come to Tabor this time of year can say, and certainly not something Avila could consistently say over the last few years.

The Eagles have learned that this year's team is different from those of the last few, but this weekend's series had an all-too-familiar start for the team wearing the black and gold. Powered by two home runs with runners on base from Juan Rosa Gonzalez, Tabor erupted for eight runs over the first two innings in Friday's series opener to take an early commanding lead.

It wasn't a brilliant start for the visitors, but they quickly proved that they had come to play. Ricky Dober and Zach Dillman hit back-to-back jacks in the third innings to get Avila on the board, and later both Landon Vahle and Robby Cable hit solo homers to help Avila hang around.

It's hard to have great pitching numbers in conditions like those in Hillsboro this weekend, and so any time a pitcher does more than passably well it's truly something to be commended. And that was certainly the case for Zach Zwicky, who authored the best appearance of his Avila career to give his team a puncher's chance in game one. Zwicky tossed five innings out of the bullpen, allowing five hits and three runs (two earned) with three strikeouts against only one walk, and the tall righty gave his team a chance, however small, to make it a game.

Trailing 12-5 after five, the Eagles then pieced together a couple of big innings to stay close. Dillman drew a bases-loaded walk in both the seventh and the ninth inning, and Bryce Culp, Nick Bowers and Paxton Andrade all drove in runs in those two frames as well. Avila got within three, but Tabor's early eight-run lead more than held up in a 13-10 win for the home team in the series opener.

Once the series was shifted from Saturday/Sunday to Friday/Saturday, Carpenter's plan was to have Alex Walton and Logan Empson, his top two healthy pitchers, combine to pitch part of one game against Tabor, which in theory would give the Eagles their best chance to win that game they both pitched in. Well, that theory turned into reality in Friday's second game because both Empson and Walton pitched extremely well, especially considering the circumstances, to more than give Avila a chance to win.

Walton started the game and weathered two early Tabor home runs to give up just three runs over four innings. Empson followed and had even more success, shutting the Bluejays out on only three hits over his four frames. Unfortunately for Avila, Tabor's Payton Tinkler, the reigning KCAC Pitcher of the Week, was dialed in too. Ronnie Nowak drove in a run in the first inning to get the Eagles on the board against him but they did not score again until Culp delivered a clutch two-run single in the fifth to even the score at three apiece.

The game was only supposed to go seven innings, but with Tinkler and Empson both putting up zeroes, the contest headed into extras. Empson and Tinkler both tossed a scoreless eighth to finally end their afternoons, and after Garrick Levesque worked around a little traffic for a scoreless ninth, Konnor Thompson got two outs for the Eagles before Tabor's star catcher Garryn Plummer ended the game with a solo home run to left field. All four of Tabor's run came courtesy of the home run in a 4-3 walkoff win.

That was certainly a common theme for both teams in Saturday's series finale as well. With the winds continuing to swirl, both offenses had field days: the two teams combined for 32 runs on 35 hits, including a grand total of 13 home runs (there were 24 hit over the series). Unfortunately for the Eagled, the Bluejays had the last laugh: Tabor put up big spots in both the seventh and eighth to rally for a win to steal the series sweep.

It was clear early on that offense would carry the day Saturday. Landon Vahle and Gio Armas went back-to-back in the first two at-bats of the game to give the Eagles an early lead, but Tabor eliminated that immediately thanks to a two-run shot from Gonzalez in the home half. Unfazed, centerfielder Robby Cable hit his second homer of the weekend to put Avila back in front, and Armas and Dober both hit RBI doubles to extend the lead to 6-2 after two.

The Eagles steadily made their move in the middle innings. Rusten Traxler nailed his first career home run to right in the fifth, and Dober followed with a two-run blast to left in the sixth before Armas delivered an RBI single, his fourth hit of the day, in the seventh, to give the Eagles their largest lead, 12-5. But that's when Tabor's offense came to life. The Bluejays nailed five home runs over their final two innings of work, including a game-tying bomb from Jackie Jimenez and a go-ahead three-run shot from Micah Dvorak in the eighth. The Eagles rallied once thanks to a clutch RBI knock from Traxler, but the Bluejays scored seven in the eighth and the Eagles had no answer in a 19-13 Tabor win and a series sweep for the home team.

All three games this weekend ended in losses, but it's not all bad news for the Eagles, who are still firmly in playoff position as the final month of the regular season begins. Up next is – on paper, at least – a slightly smoother schedule of games, which begins with Avila's first midweek game against Southwestern this coming Tuesday, April 9, in Winfield. Action is currently set to begin at 1 PM; as always, you can watch all the action on the KCAC Network.