by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College will be at full strength this weekend when the Blue Devils are the host of the opening round of the NJCAA Region VI playoffs.
The No. 3 seeded Blue Devils, who closed out non-conference play with a 15-11 win over Maple Woods Tuesday, will put their 38-18 record on the line against No. 6 Barton County (29-25) Saturday with the first of two games starting at 1 p.m. If a third game is needed, it will be played Sunday at 1 p.m. All games will be nine innings unless a team leads by 10 or more runs after seven innings.
The Blue Devil lineup will be buoyed by the return of centerfielder Eli Lovell, who has been sidelined by a foot injury. A sophomore from Lincoln, Neb., Lovell leads the Blue Devils in hitting (.477), home runs (17) and runs-batted-in (79).
Boasting a team batting average of .354, the Blue Devils will go with a starting infield of first baseman Conor Behrens (.389), second baseman Easton Fortuna (.331), shortstop Albert Woodard (.331) and third baseman Travis Stroup (.465) with Drew Holtgrieve (.344) behind the plate. Lovell will be flanked in the outfield by Ryan Fisher (.356) and Chase Redick (.339) with Ty Bradshaw (.520) as the designated hitter.
Sophomore Brandon Reid (5-2) will draw the opening pitching assignment. In his last start, Reid had a no-hitter through five innings and finished with a 2-hitter in an 11-1 win over No. 1 ranked Neosho County. Freshman Jake Purl (8-2) will get the start in the second game with Dustin Eby (4-2) the likely choice if a third game is necessary.
Five Blue Devils had two hits each as the Blue Devils rallied for the 15-11 win over Maple Woods. Fisher and Redick each drove in four runs, Fisher with his fifth home run and a triple and Redick with a triple and double. Fortuna drove in three runs with a pair of singles; Behrens tripled and singled; and Ty Bradshaw increased his season’s batting average to .520 with a double and single.
Redick opened the scoring with a 2-run triple in the first following a walk and Fortuna single and the Blue Devils made it 3-1 in the fourth on Bradshaw’s double. KCKCC built its lead to 8-3 with a 5-run fifth. Fisher’s home run following a Behrens’ triple and a walk scored the first three and Fortuna singled in two more after a Holtgrieve single and a walk.
The lead, however, did not hold up as Maple Woods scored five runs in the sixth and three in the seventh off three KCKCC hurlers. Taking advantage of two hit batsmen, two walks and an error, the Blue Devils scored six times in the seventh capped by a 2-run double by Redick and a triple by Fisher and then added an insurance run in the eighth on singles by Woodard and Bradshaw. The last of seven KCKCC pitchers, Avery Fliger, closed out the win with two innings of two-hit relief.