The 86th annual National Baseball Congress World Series is now down to a half-dozen teams, after Day 4 of competition on Thursday; action ended at 11:27 p.m. Thursday, marking the final action of the tournament in Hutchinson for the year.
Emerging with wins in loser's bracket games in Hutchinson were the Hutchinson Monarchs and the Houston Express.
The winner's bracket semifinals took place on the Wichita State campus at Eck Stadium. The first game saw the Cheney Diamond Dawgs defeat the Hays Larks 2-1. In the late game, Santa Barbara shut out Liberal 8-0, as four pitchers for the Foresters combined for a no-hitter against the Bee Jays.
There are two games on the schedule for Friday, both are elimination games at Eck Stadium: at 6:00 p.m., it's Liberal vs. Houston, followed by Hutchinson vs. Hays.
On Saturday at 6:00 p.m., the final two unbeaten teams square off in the winner's bracket finals, with Santa Barbara vs. Cheney; the winner of that game advances to Monday's championship game.
There's also a loser's bracket game late Saturday night, and the loser's bracket finale at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Fans are allowed to attend World Series games.
