By Brad Hallier
The Hutchinson Monarchs continued their torrid hitting at the NBC World Series on Tuesday afternoon at Wichita State’s Eck Stadium, pounding 12 runs on nine hits and coming from behind late again in beating the GPS (Texas) Legends 12-11.
The Monarchs won Pool D with a 3-0 record and will get a bye to Thursday’s quarterfinal round.
Going back to Friday’s 6-4, 11-win over the Hays Larks, the Monarchs have scored 30 runs on 33 hits in their last 20 innings.
The Legends put the Monarchs in an early hole Tuesday, scoring three runs before the Monarchs batted. But the Monarchs answered with three runs as Will Edmunson and Jaden Gustafson belted RBI doubles.
The Monarchs followed that inning by scoring six runs on four hits, answering another three-run inning by the Legends. The Monarchs didn’t have a base runner until there were two outs. Cooper Harris’ two-run single gave the Monarchs an 8-6 lead.
The Monarchs didn’t score again until the eighth inning, and by then, the Legends had come back to lead 10-9.
Blake Bradford and Jackson Young walked, and with two outs, Cooper Harris hit a home run.
Brady Bell pitched 1 1/3 innings in relief in earning the win for the Monarchs, while Reed Scott got the last two outs for the save.
The Monarchs will learn their bracket draw after the completion of Tuesday’s games.
