Serving Kansas City (Wyandotte County) Kansas for over 50 years!
The Fairfax Industrial Association will hold a luncheon at 11:15 a.m. Thursday, May 19, at Neff Packaging, 555 Sunshine Road, Kansas City, Kan.
The guest speaker will be Esther George, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Sponsor of the event is Neff Packaging.
For reservations, email Melissa Clark by 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 17, at [email protected]
by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College wasted no time in moving on in the Region VI baseball playoffs Saturday.
Surging to a 6-0 lead in the first inning, the Blue Devils needed just seven innings for a 13-0 rout of Barton County in the first game of the best-of-three series, then completed the sweep with a come-from-behind 7-3 win in the 9-inning nightcap.
The wins advance the Blue Devils (40-18) into the 8-team super-regional at Wichita’s Dumont Stadium. The No. 5 seed, KCKCC will open the double elimination tournament against No. 4 Hutchinson Friday at 10 a.m. The No. 4 seed, Hutchinson needed three games to get past Independence, overcoming an 8-1 deficit for a 16-14 win in the decisive third game Sunday after splitting a pair of wild decisions Saturday, winning 25-3 and losing 17-16.
The Blue Devils rode the pitching of Brandon Reid, Jake Purl and Avery Fliger to the sweep of Barton County. Reid (5-2) gave up just two hits in the 13-0 opener while Fliger was near perfect in three innings of relief after Purl scattered six hits over six hits in improving his record to 8-2.
“Reid and Fliger really pitched well and I don’t think there were more than two hard hit balls off Purl,” KCKCC coach Matt Goldbeck said. “The offense got in a lot of good swings so it was good to get the playoffs off to a good start and look forward to going to Wichita.”
Reid gave up a one-out single in the second and a leadoff double in the fourth in the opener. The only other runners to reach base against the sophomore righthander came on two hit batsmen and an error.
Drew Holtgrieve drove in three runs with a pair of doubles and a single; Ryan Fisher doubled and singled twice; and Conor Behrens tripled twice to pace a 15-hit Blue Devil attack. Chase Redick and Easton Fortuna added a pair of singles and Travis Stroup a double as KCKCC, aided by five Barton errors, scored in every inning but the third.
Behrens put KCKCC ahead to stay with a triple following a leadoff single by Redick in the first and Fisher, Albert Woodard and Fortuna each had run-scoring singles in the 6-run first inning. Behrens’ second triple, a double by Fisher and single by Holtgrieve made it 8-0 in the second and KCKCC added three more runs in the fourth on Holtgrieve’s 2-run double and Ty Bradshaw’s RBI single following an error and Fisher single. Stroup’ double led to a run in the fifth and Holtgrieve ripped his second double and scored on Bradshaw’s ground ball for his second run-batted-in.
KCKCC twice had to overcome Barton one-run leads in the nightcap. Redick led the way with four singles while Stroup and Fisher each homered.
Barton took advantage of two hit batsmen to take a 1-0 lead in the first. The Blue Devils tied it in the third on a walk, Redick’s bunt single and a Stroup ground ball and then went ahead 2-1 in the fourth on Fisher’s sixth home run of the season that cleared the fence in right-center. Barton got even on a two-out double in the fifth and went ahead 3-2 in the sixth on a triple and single, both with two out.
KCKCC took advantage of Barton wildness to take command with a 2-out, 4-run sixth inning, Albert Woodard started it with a 2-out double and after two walks loaded the bases, a passed ball scored the tying run and singles by Fortuna and Redick put the Blue Devils ahead to stay. Stroup added an insurance run with his 13th home run of the season in the eighth, a line shot to left, while Fliger retired the side in order in the seventh and eighth before surrendering a 2-out single in the ninth.
Several rounds of thunderstorms are expected today, according to the National Weather Service.
Some storms this afternoon and evening could be strong to severe, the weather service said. However, their exact location is not certain yet. It’s possible the storms could miss Wyandotte County, and go to the south of the Kansas City area. Check back later in the day at www.weather.gov or with a weather radio for updates.
Similar to Sunday, severe potential will remain tied to how well the atmosphere can recover from earlier storms to see an increase in severe potential later in the day, according to the weather service. Large hail and strong winds would be the primary threat in this case.
Some storms could produce locally heavy rainfall, according to the weather service. Combined with the rainfall received Sunday, rapid increases in streams and rivers are likely.
Strong to severe storms are possible Wednesday, the weather service said. Storms are expected to develop during the afternoon and continue into the evening. Storms could become severe with large hail and damaging winds, according to the weather service.
Today’s high will be near 74, the weather service said. There is a 60 percent chance of precipitation mainly after 1 p.m. A south wind of 11 to 17 mph may gust as high as 24 mph. New rainfall amounts of between a tenth and a quarter of an inch are possible.
Tonight, the low will be about 59, and there will be a 50 percent chance of precipitation, according to the weather service. A south wind of 7 to 15 mph may gust as high as 21 mph.
Tuesday, it will be mostly sunny with a high near 81, and a southeast wind of 5 to 7 mph becoming light and variable in the afternoon, the weather service said. Tuesday night, the low will be 62.
Wednesday, there is a 60 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, with a high near 76, the weather service said. A southeast wind of 5 to 10 mph will become west in the afternoon. Wednesday night, the low will be around 52.
Thursday, it will be sunny with a high near 70, according to the weather service. Thursday night, the low will be around 50.
