SAN MARCOS - Lions baseball won the first game of a playoff series with D'Hanis High School May 30 by a final score of 11-1 in five innings at Rattlers Field in San Marcos. Fayetteville scored right away and collected runs throughout the game while the pitching staff kept things intact. "With them, we always know it's gonna be a battle," said Fayetteville head baseball coach Clint Jaeger.
"The score looks bad, but it was still a battle. They came out and scored a run in the top of the first, but it could've been a lot worse. Chance (Konvicka) buckled down and limited them to just that one run. He got better as the night went on. Us getting out of that first inning with just one run was huge. We just tacked on, scored every inning, and just kept going."
Fayetteville sophomore pitch er Chance Konvicka pitched a strong game and only allowed one run in his outing. “I felt like I struggled a little bit in the first couple innings," Konvicka said.
“Kept walking people and kept finding a way out of it. As the game went on, I got better and better." After D'Hanis scored the first run of the game in the first inning, Fayetteville answered in their next at bat with a rocket to
the left-center field wall from senior Logan Fritsch to send in junior Keagan Supak and tie the game at one. The Lions scored again in the third inning on an error and wild pick off throw to take a 3-1 lead. D'Hanis put Fay- etteville in a bases loaded jam in the very next inning, but the Lions were able to get out of the jam and go on to tally a run on a base hit from senior Travis Gully after a walk to put it at 4-1.
Another single, walk, and fielder's choice in the same inning gave Fayetteville a 6-1 advantage before junior Reid Gross singled to center to drive in a run for a 7-1 scoreboard. Freshman Jack Schley then drove in two runs of his own in the bottom of the fourth, then three hit by pitches and a wild throw from D'Hanis scored Fayetteville's final two runs for an 11-1 result.
