I have stories in Monday’s paper about the first day of practice for Hays High and Thomas More Prep-Marian football, but wanted to post more of the interviews here.

Hays High head coach Rick Blosser on numbers:

(Hays High had about 80 kids out for camp): “Total program numbers were better and we were going into this season thinking that our numbers might be a little less, but the total program numbers were better and I think that we are going to even be better at the varsity They have been working hard.

On summer conditioning: “When we were doing our conditioning out there, we do a point system and the majority of our team is in the top point system, which is an indication of how hard they worked this summer. They have had great attitudes and our coaches have been great, we have got a couple new coaches on our staff and they have just jumped in and have had a good fit. We are just pleased with our start, we are just really excited about it.”

On some players who decided not to play (none were starters in 2007): “We don’t have any (returning) starters that didn’t go out. We had some kids that for whatever reason, we had some sophomores that didn’t come out as juniors, we had a couple juniors that didn’t come out as seniors, like you do every year, but none of our starters did not come out.”

“There are a couple of kids that we would like to have, but they weren’t starters at didn’t play a whole lot, but they are part of the family and we would sure love to have them out. It’s like losing a member of the family when they decide not to play for whatever reasons, some are actively involved in work, in other things, school.”

On working on throwing the ball more: “We had some great 7-on-7s. We had some progress this summer and for us to be competitive throwing the football we had to add some more organization in our 7 on 7, so we are looking at running some more five steps this year, doing some more spread, plus still running the option.”

“Still be able to run a lot of running plays out of a wider look. We are still running our same scheme as last year, we are just adding some formations to it.”

Blosser on senior quarterback Kelton Rule, in his first year as starter: “He was our backup quarterback, played the last couple of games for us when Austin Klaus got hurt and did a good job.

He probably could have been a starter for us last year, but I was new and Austin was a senior and so I gave Austin the go ahead, but when kelton went there, we didn’t miss a beat and Kelton is a heckuva an athlete, he knows the game, he takes control of the huddle, he is a great leader. We are tickled to death that he is back there. I think could be a heckuva quarterback for us.”

WICHITA - The Larks vs. Beejays game will start at approximately 2:10 a.m. Lake Havasu (Ariz.) Heat run-ruled the Maxim (Ca.) Yankees, 12-2, in a game called in the bottom of seventh.

If Hays wins tonight against Liberal, they will face Havasu in the championship bracket. Havasu, the defending champions, defeated the Larks to win the 2007 championship. Havasu is ranked No. 1 in the tournament while Hays is ranked No. 2. Havasu’s only loss is to Liberal in the first round last Wednesday.

WICHITA – Billy Boockford, like the rest of his Hays Larks teammates, wants to win a national title at the 2008 National Baseball Congress World Series. He, though, wants Hays’ path to go through Liberal, a Jayhawk League rival from the regular season.

Boockford has his wish.

Liberal and Hays will meet in a round of eight game Wednesday morning at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. The game was originally expected to be played at 12:30 a.m. but will likely start at 3:00 a.m. (KAYS 1400 AM).

Liberal and Hays are the only two Jayhawk League teams that advanced to the round of 16. Both teams will enter 4-1 in NBC play.

“It is going to be a fun game and we are all excited,” Boockford, the Larks’ starting rightfielder, said. “That is one team that we wanted to see out here and wanted to play because if we wanted to go all the way, we wanted to go through the Beejays.”

Hays, the runner-up in 2007, will start backup infielder/spot starter Andrew Heck (2-0, 2.79, 13 2/3 innings). Reliever Jordan Beistline (1-1, 4.46 ERA) will likely be the main reliever.

Neither one has worked longer than 4 2/3 innings in any appearance.

If the Larks win against Liberal, they will likely set their rotation for the final games with No. 2 starter Casey Hauptman, Chase Johnson (eight innings Sunday morning) and ace Patrick Cooper.

“If we win that, then we should be all right, set up pretty nicely,” reliever Steven Mazur said.

This will be the eighth time Liberal and Hays will play this summer. Hays holds the season series 5-2, but Liberal won the last two meetings. Hays won the Jayhawk League conference with a 31-16 overall record and a 25-11 mark in conference play. Liberal finished fourth with a 25-19 mark, 20-16 against Jayhawk squads.

In those seven games, though, Hays has outscored Liberal 55-52 – almost a dead heat. This will be the first time they will play each other on a neutral surface. Liberal, in its two wins against the Larks, outscored them 30-16.

“They are a great ball team, they have proven it all summer,” Larks first baseman Dusty Washburn said.

Hays, consistent all year, comes in winning nine of its last 11 games. Built on the comeback victory, the Larks were down 3-0 to Clarinda (Ia.) on Monday morning after five innings and came back to win 8-6.

On Tuesday night, they were 4-4 entering the bottom of the eighth against Vienna (Va.) before they scored two runs.

“The fight in this ballclub is just tremendous,” Larks manager Frank Leo said.

The leading hitters for Hays have been Cameron Monger, Eric Roof, Joe Huwer and Mike Brownstein.

Monger, picked up from the Dodge City A’s for the postseason, continued his torrid run through the NBC on Tuesday night with three hits, a run scored, RBI and stolen base versus Vienna (Va.). He is batting .545 (6-for-11).

Huwer checks in at .438 with eight hits, while Roof is batting .350 with two doubles and a team-high six RBIs. Brownstein has reached base 11 times and is tied with Roof and Monger with the team lead in runs scored (five.)

The Beejays, coached by former Liberal player and Major League manager Mike Hargrove, have been one of the hottest teams in the country since mid-June. Including NBC play, they are 27-13 in its last 40 games, have won seven of nine and five of six.

At the World Series, they defeated the defending champion Lake Havasu (Ariz.) Heat in its first game and beat the Anchorage Glacier Pilots earlier Tuesday. The Glacier Pilots were ranked as the No. 1 summer league team in the country in the most recent Perfect Game poll.

They are swinging the bats really well and at this point in the tournament, that is what it is going to come down to, try to get four, five six innings out of our starter and then try and piecing it together,” Washburn, a four-year Lark and two-year starter, said. “It is going to be a good old-fashioned Jayhawk League matchup.”

WICHITA - The Hays vs. Liberal game, originally scheduled for 12:30 a.m., will likely start about 3 a.m. (KAYS 1400).

WICHITA - The Hays Larks versus Liberal Beejays round of eight contest at the National Baseball Congress World Series was supposed to start at 12:30 a.m. Central time (KAYS 1400 AM). However, the game before between the defending Lake Havasu (Ariz.) Heat and the Maxim (Ca.) Yankees is in the bottom of the fourth inning at 12:45 a.m. Havasu, which defeated Hays for the 2007 championship and is the top seed in this year’s NBC, leads 8-2.

Hays and Liberal will likely start about 3 a.m. Check back to Conor’s Corner for updates throughout the evening. Mike Hammett will have the call for KAYS regardless of start time.

Editor’s note (updated): This is the Hays Larks’ Game 5 game story. This does not appear in the Wednesday print edition of The Hays Daily News. The game story in Wednesday’s paper is Game 6, a contest that began at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday morning between Hays and Jayhawk League rival Liberal.

By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

WICHITA – The Hays Larks produced a Jayhawk League regular season championship, more than a dozen comeback victories and four wins in the National Baseball Congress World Series by following the same mantra: Stay loose, have fun, be relaxed, exude confidence.

On Tuesday night, it helped move the Larks into the final eight at the NBC World Series. Hays lost a 4-0 lead in the seventh inning before they received a two-run eighth inning rally and clutch relief work by Steven Mazur.

The comeback produced a 6-4 victory against the Vienna (Va.) Senators at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

“It has been this way all year,” Billy Boockford said. “No matter what position, either we are down five, down two or if we are up six, we always know that we are going to close the game as well as we can.

“Because that is what we do,” he added. “If we keep that mindset, we know that we are going to win the game.”

Helped by another huge night by Cameron Monger (3-for-4) and a controversial call that ended the seventh inning, the Larks won their third straight elimination game. They will play Jayhawk League rival Liberal Wednesday morning at 12:30 a.m. (KAYS 1400 AM).

“The fight in this ballclub is just tremendous,” Larks manager Frank Leo said.

The winner will move into the championship bracket and will be assured of at least a top six finish.

“At this point in the tournament, it is just keep grinding, keep having fun and good things will happen,” Dusty Washburn said. “That is just kind of the mentality right now is just have fun.”

In Washburn’s eyes, a four-year Lark and a two-year starting first baseman, Hays’ run is similar to the runner-up finish in 2007. Last summer, the Larks lost early in the tournament before they had a long run in the loser’s bracket.

“It reminds us a lot of it, especially with the fact that we are getting later in the tournament and we are having to piece together a pitching staff and everyone is going out there and playing really loose and just having a good time and joking around,” he said. “We don’t have anything to be nervous about. We are just playing to have fun.”

It produced another late-inning victory, the sixth time in the last eight wins Hays has won a contest in the final innings.

Larks starter Eddie Carl worked six shutout innings and carried 3-0 lead into the seventh. Carl, though, loaded the bases with none out and was relieved by Steven Mazur.

Mazur had trouble with the mound and kept slipping on his follow through. Mazur, the Larks’ best reliever all year with a 1.07 earned run average, walked a batter and hit another one that brought in two runs.

“I had to dig it out a little bit, I am not used to it,” Mazur said of the mound. “I guess with all of the games that have been played out here, it is kind of torn up down there and they are having to rebuild it after every game. … My slider was up, so that was why I had to work more fastball, changeup.”

Vienna evantually tied the game at 4. With bases loaded and none out, Juan Mujica hit a chopper to first base. Washburn stepped on the bag and tried to throw home for the force play. The throw skipped past catcher Eric Roof, scored two runs and moved Matt Goula, the go-ahead run, to third base with one out.

After a strikeout and an intentional walk, Mazur coaxed a ground ball to Rich Michalek at second and Michalek threw to Washburn.

Washburn, though, dropped the ball.

The umpires called the play an out, a call that was upheld after the Vienna coaches argued the play.

“The throw to me was a little high. I went and caught it and I went behind my back to throw it back to the mound, it popped out,” Washburn said. “He got the call right. The first base umpire called ‘out’ right away, so I didn’t make a big move to go grab it.

“He told me it was on the transfer,” Washburn added. “He said ‘I have got to get the call right’ and I said ‘absolutely, ask the home plate umpire for help’ and he said ‘I saw the same thing. He was coming back to put the ball back on the mound.’”

Mazur worked out of another jam in the eighth to keep the score tied. He loaded the bases with two outs before he struck out Mujica on a slider to end the threat.

“Once I got ahead of him, I just tried to do what I always do,” Mazur said. “Just work my slider in a little bit. I made sure that I dug it out on that one slider because I knew slider was going to be called. I tried to dig it out as much as I could and I made a good pitch on it.”

The Larks took the lead in the bottom of the inning.

“We are relaxed,” Boockford said. “Things don’t bother us because we are so poised.”

Roof led off with a double to right. After a popout and an intentional walk, Monger, acquired for the postseason from Dodge City, curled a double down the left field line for a RBI.

Boockford walked and Clayton Karst struck out before Brandon Eckerle lined a check swing single into right field for the game’s final run.

Mazur (5-0), supported by a diving catch from Monger down the left field line, pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory.

“Nobody wanted to go home,” Mazur said. “Everyone wanted to compete and be out here to win this thing.”

WICHITA – Here is Hays’ lineup for the Monday morning, 8 am start against the Clarinda (Ia.) A’s:

Leadoff: Brandon Eckerle, CF

2. Rich Michalek, 2B

3. Mike Brownstein, SS

4. Eric Roof, DH

5. Dusty Washburn, 1B

6. Joe Huwer, LF

7. Rafael Neda, C

8. Billy Boockford, RF

9. Clayton Karst, 3B

RHP: Patrick Cooper (7-3, 2.48 ERA)

Notes:

-Huwer has been the team’s best hitter at the NBC, carrying a .500 average (5-for-10). That average is tied for tenth among all NBC players. Washburn is hitting .455. His 3-for-4 game against Game Time (La.) on Sunday morning tied his season high for base hits. He also had three hits against Dodge City on July 1.

-Clarinda is starting RHP Sammy Miller, which has been a good sign for Hays all season. In the three NBC tournament contests, Hays has scored 17 runs in 14 innings against right-handed pitchers while just one run in 10 innings versus left-handers.

-Mike Brownstein, who just delivered a first inning single, is batting .400 with four walks in the NBC. Injuries have shortened his summer season but he is 12 at-bats away from 100 needed to qualify for all-time Larks records. If he does get there, Brownstein would be among the top eight in batting average and could set the all-time on-base percentage record. His average is .420 (37-for-88).

-A win would give Cooper eight and move him into a tie for seventh all-time. Only two pitchers, JP Gagne in 2001 and Aaron Breit in 2005, have posted eight wins since 1997. Cooper is 1-0 in the NBC after he delivered a six-inning shutout against the San Diego Wave in the Larks’ first game.

-3B/DH/RHP Kevin Hennessey, the team leader in homers and RBIs, is not at the ballpark for the second straight game. We’ll have more information on this as it becomes available.

WICHITA – The Larks will play the Clarinda A’s on Monday morning at 8 am at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. Clarinda (Iowa) is actually staying in the same hotel as the Larks and I’ve been able to talk with several of their players throughout the past few days.

Clarinda defeated Gunnison (Co.) Colts, 13-4, in the last game Saturday before the rains came and pushed all of the games back. Clarinda will have about 14 more hours rest time than Hays since the Larks had to play at 4 a.m. Sunday morning.

Here are Clarinda’s stats and Hays’ stats. The Larks are among the tournament leaders in most every category, including ranking sixth in batting average and fourth in earned run average.

-The Larks should DH/3B/RHP Kevin Hennessey back for Monday’s contest. Hennessey didn’t report to the ballpark Sunday morning. He is the team leader in homers, RBIs and batting average with runners in scoring position and is batting .375 (3-for-8) in the NBC. He is the only main reliever who has not been used in the first three NBC games.

Chase Johnson delivered one of the finest performances by a Hays pitcher this season in Sunday’s 8-1 victory against the Game Time (La.) Rockies.

Here was Johnson’s final line: 8 innings, 10 strikeouts, two walks, two hits, one run.

With that line, here are Johnson’s season numbers: 33 2/3 innings, 51 strikeouts, 24 walks, 11 earned runs, 1-0 record, three saves, 18 games

2.94 ERA 

Johnson’s 13.6 strikeouts per nine innings rank fifth-best in Larks’ history.

It’s an impressive, dominant line that is as good as most any pitcher in Hays’ history.

However, if you take out one game, it simply becomes historic.

On July 5 against Derby, an outing where Johnson pitched hurt, he didn’t retire a batter, allowed two hits, seven runs (all earned), four walks and no strikeouts.

If you take out that one game, you’ll receive a truer representation of Johnson’s dominance.

In his other 17 games, this is Johnson’s line: 33 2/3 innings, 51 strikeouts, 20 walks, 4 earned runs, 1-0 record,

1.07 ERA 

How impressive is that ERA?

It would tie for the sixth-best all-time.

Leo said earlier this season that Johnson, who will transfer to South Mountain Community College, has a chance to pitch professionally and put him in the top tier of all the Hays pitchers Leo has seen in his 28 years as manager.

“He has got the potential to pitch at the next level,” Leo said. “And how far he takes it, when you get to that level, it is going to be command of the strike zone, because when you get to that level, 93-94 is hittable if you put it over the middle of the plate. If you keep it on the corners, you will be tough.”

Johnson, in his 8-inning performance Sunday, said he did just that – much better than his first start against Nevada. The location allowed him to spread 115 pitches over eight innings after 93 over 5 1/3 versus Nevada on July 27.

“I think it was spotting the ball more on the corners and inside, up and in,” Johnson said. “Probably just that, keeping the ball low. I got a lot of balls up the first time I pitched.”

4 a.m. update

WICHITA – The Hays Larks will have first pitch about 4 a.m. KAYS’ Gerard Wellbrock and I arrived to the ballpark around 2:30, roughly the same time the players and coaches got there.

It has started to ran at about 3:40, but it’s a light rain and the players are still on the field and warming up. This is the latest start time Hays Larks’ manager can ever remember starting a game.

Since Lawrence-Dumont has a turf infield just like Larks Park, the field is in pretty good shape.  There is a dark, wet spot behind where the turf meets the grass near slightly to the right of where the second baseman normally plays. There is a slight spot at shortstop, too and in left and center but nothing terrible.

There is about 50 people in the stands with Hays along the first base side, the first game they’ve had the first base dugout in this year’s NBC.

The Game Time (La.) Rockies lost to Gunnison (Co.) Colts 7-5 in the first round (Hays had a bye in the tournament’s first round) and then beat the Park City Cowboys 12-2 in the loser’s bracket last Sunday and the West Texas Outlaws, 8-3, on Thursday.

Here is Hays’ lineup:

1. Brandon Eckerle, CF

2. Rich Michalek, 2B

3. Mike Brownstein, SS

4. Eric Roof, C

5. Dusty Washburn, 1B

6. Joe Huwer, DH

7. Billy Boockford, RF

8. Clayton Karst, 3B

9. Cameron Monger, LF

Notes: Kevin Hennessey, the DH in Game 1 and 3B in Game 2, will not start. He is the team leader in homers, RBIs, doubles and batting average with runners in scoring position. Hennessey, though, has been regulated to a DH role in the last few week to 10 days and made an error at 3B on Friday night.

Hennessey, also the team’s closer, has not pitched yet in the NBC and, if it comes to it, would likely be used.

Hennessey is 3-for-8 (.375) in the first two NBC contests, while Huwer is 3-for-5. This will be Monger’s first start. Monger, who has Eckerle-esque speed, stole third base as a pinch runner in Friday’s contest.

He was Dodge City’s leadoff man all summer and will play at New Mexico next spring.

WICHITA — Larks manager Frank Leo said Hays will start now at 4 a.m.

Here the official release from the NBC site:

With Mother Nature halting play throughout most of the day, the scheduled 1:00 P.M. Saturday game is set to begin at 1:30 A.M. Sunday morning between the Crestwood (IL) Panthers and the Oklahoma A’s.

Hays will follow this contest. There has not been rain for several hours, so it appears the Larks will play.