by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
If Josh Shumacher’s role as leadoff hitter is to lead, he had a heckuva day Tuesday.
A sophomore outfielder from Aurora, Colo., Shumacher lashed three hits, drove in four runs, scored twice and threw out a runner to lead Kansas City Kansas Community College to a 13-3 win over Longview Community College.
The win, the Blue Devils’ fifth in their last six games, lifted their overall record to 14-11 heading into a Jayhawk Conference doubleheader at Highland Thursday. The two teams then close out a four-game series at KCKCC Saturday at 2 p.m.
Shumacher came within a double of hitting for the cycle as he belted a 3-run home run, game-ending triple and a single to pace a 10-hit KCKCC attack. Catcher Adam North of Shawnee Mission South joined in the big assault with four RBI on a bases-loaded double and a single while Kevin Santiago singled and tripled, Gavin Gifford singled twice and James Bradley doubled.
The Blue Devils got their money’s worth out of their 10 hits. Of the 14 Blue Devils reaching base, 13 scored.
Longview took a 1-0 lead on a pair of hits in the first but the Blue Devils quickly went ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the inning. Shumacher led off with a single, Santiago tied it with a triple and scored on Brandon Still’s sacrifice fly. The Blue Devils added a third run in the third on a Brigham Mooney sacrifice fly and then broke the game open with five runs in the fourth.
After an error and a single by Gifford, Julius King’s squeeze bunt scored one run. North singled in another and after a hit batsman, Shumacher launched a 400-foot blast that cleared the fence in centerfield.
The Blue Devils then closed out the win with five runs in the eighth, scoring all five with two out. Singles by Santiago and Gifford and an error loaded the bases before North cleared them with a double. Bailey’s double scored North and Shumacher ended it with a triple.
Freshman Bret Snider made his first pitching start of the season, allowing seven hits including a no doubt two-run home run by Dalton Bearner in the fifth. Snider walked one and struck out two in five innings. Southpaw Hunter Paxton gave up just one hit and struck out three in two innings and Gunner Vestal pitched a hitless eighth inning, striking out two and walking one.
PHOTO IDENT (3 photos)
Shu’s big day….
Josh Shumacher’s big day in leading KCKCC to a 13-3 win over Longview included this 3-run home run, a triple and single and four RBI; a home plate salute of raised helmets from teammates Adam North (33), Brigham Mooney (10), James Bradley and Kevin Santiago (26); and a throw to second baseman Brigham Mooney that cut down Longview’s Clint Jennings trying to stretch a single into a double in the sixth inning. (KCKCC photos by Alan Hoskins)