by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
A pair of two-hit pitching performances carried Kansas City Kansas Community College to a baseball sweep of State Fair Sunday.
Orlando Ortiz gave up just two singles in a 2-0 win in the opener while three Blue Devil hurlers combined on a two-hitter in a 5-2 nightcap win in games played on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg.
Still unable to hold any home games because of snow on the field, the Blue Devils (4-5) will resume play in a single game Tuesday against Butler County in El Dorado at 2 p.m. A scheduled home game with William Jewell was canceled.
Sophomores Eric Hinostroza and Jose Sosa swung the big bats in the sweep. Hinostroza had four hits in the two games including a double while Sosa had two doubles and a single and drove in runs in each game.
“Hinostroza, Sosa and Tyler Henry all swung the bats well,” KCKCC coach Matt Goldbeck said.
A sophomore from Miami Beach, Florida, Ortiz had a no-hitter until one out in the fifth inning in the 2-0 win. He struck out 10 and walked two in the route-going performance.
“Orlando had a special outing,” Goldbeck said. “He had command of all his pitches and stayed in the zone, very similar to Carlos Soto’s performance last week except for a lower pitch count and no high stress innings.”
Held to just one hit through three innings, the Blue Devils snapped the 0-0 deadlock in the fourth, scoring on a leadoff single by Hinostroza and RBI double by Sosa and then added an insurance run in the fifth. Tyler Henry led off with a triple and scored on a single by Eduardo Acosta. The Blue Devils finished with seven hits including two by Henry and one each by JT Goodfellow and Kemper Bednar.
The Blue Devils had to rally from a 2-0 deficit in the nightcap. A leadoff single by Sosa, a walk and two errors tied the game in the bottom of the fourth and KCKCC went ahead with two runs in the fifth. A single by Hinostroza, double by Sosa and a passed ball gave the Blue Devils the lead and Bednar singled in the second run. A hit batsman, Hinostroza’s double and Sosa’s sacrifice fly added an insurance run in the sixth.
Sophomore Victor Gotay worked the first four innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on just one hit, six walks and six strikeouts. The two runs came in the fourth on two walks, passed ball and the only hit off Gotay. Freshman Zavier Morin came on in the fifth, loading the bases on a single and two walks before Jose Amaro left the three runners stranded with an inning ending strikeout.
Amaro got the save by allowing no hits in the final two innings although State Fair loaded the bases with two out in the seventh on two errors and a walk before a game-inning popup.