Larks complete series sweep

The Hays Larks made an early statement in Jayhawk League play.

Improving their record to 6-2 on the year and 3-1 in Jayhawk play, the Larks completed a series sweep of the defending league champion Haysville Heat with a 7-4 victory to cap the series Sunday.

Andy Lewton pitched five innings, allowing three earned runs on eight hits in picking up the victory and Michael Burchett came on in the ninth for the save as Hays won its fourth consecutive game in front of approximately 1,000 fans on hand for "Military Appreciation Night" at Larks Park.

The Larks broke a 2-2 tie in the second inning second inning as Jon Ryan led off with a solo home run and Sloan Soulia scored on a wild pitch. Hays then tacked on three more in the fifth to spread the gap and the pitching staff did the rest. In three innings of relief, Matt Schmit allowed a solo homer in the eighth before Burchett closed the door.

MacKenzie Handel, the Larks' leader in the early going, finished 3-for-3 and reached base four times, scoring two runs. Cam Brown and Ryan each drove in two. Handel's game pushed his early-season average to .542 in seven games started. He now has scored a team-high 11 runs and drove in a team-high 14.

Haysville dropped to 4-5 overall and 2-4 in league play.

Hays hits the road Tuesday and Wednesday for action at the Liberal Bee Jays, before returning home for one game at Larks Park this week, a Thursday game with the Topeka Giants.

Sources: MLB, players talk realignment

A simple form of realignment being seriously considered has been raised in the labor talks between Major League Baseball and the players' association, according to four sources: two leagues of 15 teams, rather than the current structure of 16 teams in the National League and 14 in the American League.

 According to a highly ranked executive, one consideration that has been raised in ownership committee meetings is eliminating the divisions altogether, so that 15 AL and 15 NL teams would vie for five playoff spots within each league. Currently, Major League Baseball has six divisions.

A source who has been briefed on the specifics of the labor discussions says that the players' union has indicated that it is open to the idea of two 15-team leagues, but that the whole plan still hasn't been talked through or presented to the owners.

A sticking point involves interleague play. Because of the odd number of teams in each league, it is possible that a team in contention late in the season will have to be playing its final games in interleague play.

One of the biggest issues that would have to be resolved in any realignment resulting in two 15-team leagues is which of the National League teams would switch to the American League.

Two highly ranked executives believe the Houston Astros would be a possibility, because a switch to the AL for Houston would foster a rivalry between the Astros and the Texas Rangers.

There are still a lot of details that would have to be discussed," one source said.