by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Wichita – No. 1 seeded Neosho County pushed across two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning Saturday night for a 6-4 win that dropped Kansas City Kansas Community College into the loser’s bracket of the 2016 Region VI super-regional playoffs at Dumont Stadium.
The loss forces the Blue Devils to win two games today starting with Garden City at 1 p.m. to keep their championship hopes alive.
Tied 4-4 in the eighth, Neosho took advantage of a walk and hit batsman to start the winning rally. Ryan Tolliver broke the tie with a run-scoring single off Blue Devil relief ace Avery Fliger and the Panthers added another run on a bunt single by Evan Bourn and a sacrifice fly.
The loss came after the Blue Devils had battled back from 3-1 and 4-2 deficits to pull even at 4-4 in the top of the sixth. After a leadoff single by Eli Lovell and a one-out walk, Albert Woodard doubled in one run and Zach Mahoney tied it with a single. However, Neosho starter Mason Knopp left the bases loaded with an inning-ending fly ball.
After Neosho had taken a 1-0 lead on an unearned run in the first, KCKCC got even in the second on Drew Holtgrieve’s one-out triple and a Woodard ground ball. Another error set up a 2-run Neosho third as Brylie Ware doubled in one run and scored on a ground ball for a 3-1 lead and the Panthers made it 4-2 in the fourth on singles by Nate Crossman and Blake Tomasino.
Jake Purl worked the first seven innings, allowing five hits and just two earned runs. Lovell, Woodard and Mahoney each had a pair of hits and Conor Behrens a double for KCKCC, which fell to 41-19, Drew Johnson got the win for Neosho, retiring all six hitters he faced.