By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Abilene baseball team silenced Rose Hill on Thursday evening, eliminating the Rockets 5-1 to advance to the semifinal round of this year’s 4A state tournament.
Rose Hill’s season concludes at 15-12 while the Cowboys prepare to face Pratt for a spot in the 4A state championship game at 1:15 today.
“Kyson Becker again threw a great game for us and the defense played great behind him,” Abilene head coach Travis Bartley said. “Rose Hill started a pretty good arm on the hill but we were able to string enough good at-bats together, especially with runners in scoring position.”
The Rockets would strike first to open the scoring, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI double from Rhett Briggs.
From there, however, it would be all Abilene, as the Cowboys took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first and never looked back en route to a 5-1 win.
With the game tied in the first, the Stocton Timbrook show at the plate began, as the senior slapped a single into center field to drive in his first of three RBI on the day.
In the fourth, Timbrook was at it again, driving in Heath Hoekman on a ground-rule-double, and for his final act, a double to the left-field wall in the sixth brought around the fourth Abilene run of the day.
Jake Bartley put the final nail in the Rose Hill coffin with an RBI single of his own in the sixth, and Kyson Becker polished off the last three batters to secure the victory.
On the hill Becker was excellent, allowing just one run on two hits, in a complete-game effort that saw him fan four batters and issue just two walks.
The Cowboys will take on the 3-seed in Pratt at 1:15 on Friday in the 4A semifinals. We will be streaming the game for free with live audio and video on Salina Post.