Wichita, Kan. - Falcons baseball ended up splitting their doubleheader on Saturday (Feb. 28) with Hastings College. Friends won game one in dramatic fashion with an extra inning walk-off grand slam winning 18-14. In game two they would fall 7-1 to the Broncos, losing three out of four games in the series.

Game 1 

In which was a back and forth slug fest, game one was a very long and intense game for the Falcon ball club. There were runs traded through both sides in the majority of the innings played. 

In the 1st inning the Broncos would start with a 2-0 lead after a two-run blast, they would follow up in the 2nd inning grabbing three more runs making the score 5-0 Hastings. 

Friends would climb back with a three run 2nd inning with Colton Flores and Camden Miller both hitting RBI doubles. In the next inning the Falcons would bring it within one run due to Hudson Sharp batting in Miles Hartman from a ground out.

Hastings would answer with two runs in the 4th bringing them back up 7-4. However, Friends would take the lead in the bottom half of the 4th. Xavier Champ would showcase his speed hitting an RBI triple to score Camden Miller. Friends would take the lead on a wild pitch with Lyonel Barthelemy scoring, Falcons leading 8-7 after four innings.

As the back and forth continued, the Broncos would take back the lead with a pair of RBI singles. Holden Sabor would come in to pinch hit in the 5th for the Falcons and the first pitch he saw, he hit a two-run home run to bring the Falcons back in the game leading 10-9.

A five run 6th inning from the Broncos gave them a comfortable 14-10 lead. 

A crucial 6th inning for the Falcons was needed in order to keep them in the series. The Falcons would deliver with Holden Sabor leading the charge with an RBI double scoring Davis Chakos. Some sloppy play from Hastings would allow the Falcons to tie the ballgame up 14-14. Two major fielding and throwing errors allowed the Falcons to score three runs. 

This was a scheduled 7 inning game and it would go to extra innings. Preston Lewis came in for the Falcons and delivered 3 brilliant innings of relief to give Friends a chance to walk it off. Lewis in those three innings struck four batters out and gave up zero hits and most importantly zero runs given up. 

This would lead to the bottom of the 9th where Friends would get the bases loaded and have Sean Fernald come in and pinch hit. There was only one out so all the Falcons needed was any sort of contact. Fernald hit a towering grand slam over the centerfield wall to give the Falcons an 18-14 win in extras. 

Both teams would combine for 30 hits and 32 runs in an offensive clash. There would be a total of seven lead changes in game one concluding a historic display of offense for the Falcons.

Game 2

Game two would not go the same way as game one was, Hastings would control this one from start to finish with the pitching performance from Eduardo Galicia. Galicia would throw a complete game throwing seven innings only giving up one earned run. 

The Hastings defense picked it up in this game not allowing an error compared to the costly errors in game one. 

The only run for the Falcons was a Bernie Socarras RBI single that scored Camden Miller. 

The Broncos would close this game out with a 7-1 victory and gave them the series win over Friends.

Friends baseball is now three games under .500 with a record of (8-11). The Falcons will be back in Wichita on Tuesday (Mar. 3) with a solo game against Sterling at 2:00 PM.