by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — More than two months ago, the Wellington Heat made their debut at Sellers Park. Saturday night, the season came to an end with a 5-1 loss to the Seattle Wash. Studs in front of a nearly packed house at the NBC World Series at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in Wichita. While the Studs may have won, there was no doubt the Heat had the most fans there.

No one would argue it has been a most interesting inaugural season for the Heat at the Wheat Capital of the World.

Needing to win two games Saturday to secure the NBC crown, Wellington failed to get one. The Studs, undefeated going in, stayed undefeated coming out, ending the two-year reign of the Santa Barbara Foresters who won this tournament in 2011 and 2012. 

The Heat could not get anything going offensively, getting just four hits in the game. A slightly different output from the 16 hits they got the night before. Attribute this to Studs pitcher David Benson who threw a complete game.

In the 2012 championship game, Benson started but took the loss after yielding three runs in 1.2 innings to the Foresters.

The right-hander was impressive this time, striking out four and carrying a shutout into the ninth before yielding a run on a two-out double by Robbie Rea. But he retired the final batter to finish off the complete game and earn tournament Most Valuable Player honors.

The Studs (6-0) jumped out in front in the second against Brady Bowen on a 1-out homer by Bobby LeCount and an RBI single by Matt Becker. They pulled away in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Kyle Boe, a bases-loaded hit by Brian Corliss and a sacrifice fly by Ty Holm.

Wellington (5-2) had its best finish since winning the title as the Havasu (AZ) Heat in 2007. The Heat had 4th-place finishes in 2006, 2008 and 2011.

Not all was lost for the Heat. They will receive $13,000 as a team for finishing second in the tournament. They also automatically qualified for the tournament in 2014 because of their performance this year.

The Heat also generated plenty of enthusiasm locally. They brought in large crowds for much of the year. It was apparent that Heat fans dominated the NBC World Series turnstiles especially the final two nights.

Wellington finished 39-17 for the year.

The Heat now go into the off-season with plenty of momentum. Owner/coach Rick Twyman said the Heat is committed to at least one more year at Sellers Park.

The 79th annual event, was a pitcher’s tournament.  NBC pitchers allowed a batting average of .239 that was only five points higher than last year. No team batted .300, with El Dorado’s .297 taking home top honors among teams that played four games. Although the tournament era at 3.22 was almost a half-run higher than 2012’s 2.78, the tournament saw 12 shutouts compared to 10. Santa Barbara threw three consecutive shutouts, while El Dorado also had three. Hays (KS) had a 1.03 ERA, best among the six qualifiers. Home runs reached another all-time low with eight hit. Only 1944 (three) and 1945 (seven) had fewer long balls.

Heat player gets this Stud runner out at second. (Eric Rinehart photo).

The Heat offense was held at bay against the eventual Seattle Stud NBC Champions. (Eric Rinehart photo)

GAME DATE: 08/10/2013

Seattle (WA) Studs  5 AT Wellington (KS) Heat  1

YTD                                   YTD

Studs              AB  R  H BI   AVG  Heat               AB  R  H BI   AVG

C.Savage LF         4  0  0  0  .304  A.SIPLE CF          4  0  0  0  .214

B.Corliss 2B        2  0  0  1  .105  N.THIMESCH RF       3  1  1  0  .333

T.Holm CF           2  1  1  1  .269  R.REA 3B            4  0  1  1  .250

E.Peterson DH       4  0  0  0  .000  T.PIAZZA 1B         4  0  1  0  .333

B.LeCount 1B        4  1  1  1  .217  N.BILLINGER 2B      3  0  1  0  .360

K.Boe 3B            4  0  1  1  .158  K.ROCHA LF          3  0  0  0  .231

Y.Akitoshi SS       4  1  2  0  .150  T.MARK C            3  0  0  0  .273

G.Breda C           3  1  1  0  .167  D.BERNARDI DH       2  0  0  0  .200

M.Becker RF         4  1  2  1  .409   T.LONG DH          1  0  0  0  .000

R.ANDREWS SS        3  0  0  0  .217

31  5  8  5                           30  1  4  1

Studs                0 2 0   0 0 1   2 0 0 -  5  8  0

Heat                 0 0 0   0 0 0   0 0 1 -  1  4  1

2B–Y.Akitoshi (1), R.REA (1). HR–B.LeCount (1). RBI–B.Corliss (3),

T.Holm (4), B.LeCount (2), K.Boe (3), M.Becker (4), R.REA (2).

HP–B.Corliss (2). SF–T.Holm (2). SH–C.Savage (0), T.Holm (0).

SB–N.THIMESCH 2 (5), N.BILLINGER (4). CS–B.Corliss (1), Y.Akitoshi (1).

E–B.BOWEN (1).

LOB–Studs 5, Heat 3.

YTD

IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR     ERA

Studs

D.Benson (W,1-0)                9.0   4   1   1   1   4   0    1.80

9     4   1   1   1   4   0

Heat

B.BOWEN (L,1-1)                 6.0   8   5   4   2   4   1    3.48

B.MCMILLAN                      1.2   0   0   0   0   1   0   12.60

N.COLEMAN                       0.1   0   0   0   0   1   0    2.45

S.HOFFMAN                       1.0   0   0   0   0   0   0    0.00

9     8   5   4   2   6   1

HB–B.MCMILLAN (2). SO–C.Savage, B.LeCount 3, Y.Akitoshi, G.Breda,

A.SIPLE, K.ROCHA, T.MARK, R.ANDREWS. BB–B.Corliss, G.Breda, N.THIMESCH.

BF–D.Benson 31 (56), B.BOWEN 28 (41), B.MCMILLAN 5 (23), N.COLEMAN (15),

S.HOFFMAN 3 (3). P-S–D.Benson 117-75, B.BOWEN 102-74, B.MCMILLAN 22-12,

N.COLEMAN 4-3, S.HOFFMAN 8-6.