by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
With just eight games to go, the race for home playoff berths in the Jayhawk Conference is going down to the wire and no one faces a tougher finishing slate than Kansas City Kansas Community College.
Dropped into third place by a home split with Fort Scott Saturday, the Blue Devils finish out the season against the two hottest teams in the conference.
The Blue Devils (19-10) open a four-game series Thursday at fourth place Neosho County (18-10), which has won nine of its last 10 games; and then finish the season against league-leading Johnson County (22-6), which has won 10 in a row.
The Blue Devils, who are 31-14 overall and have won eight of their last 10, will play at Longview Tuesday before resuming conference play at Neosho Thursday.
Fort Scott, which is in fifth (17-11) two games back of KCKCC, took advantage of wildness and miscues to rally in the seventh inning for a 5-4 win in Saturday’s opener before the Blue Devils came from behind late on a 2-run home run by Brandon Green for a 10-8 nightcap win.
KCKCC took a 5-0 lead in the first inning of the second game only to have Fort Scott go ahead 8-6 and lead 8-7 entering the bottom of the seventh when the Blue Devils struck swiftly and decisively. Alex Phillips doubled with one out and with two down, Green blasted his fifth home run of the season to left-center for a 9-8 lead and the Blue Devils tacked on an insurance run in the eighth on a single by Drew Holtgrieve, Josh Schumacher’s double and an Albert Woodard sacrifice fly.
Julian Rivera got the win, allowing only one hit over the final three innings although he had to pitch out of bases-loaded jam in the eighth. He struck out four, walked three.
Green also had the big hit in the Blue Devils’ 5-run first inning, a 2-run double following two walks and Chase Redick single. Easton Fortuna and Drew Holtgrieve closed out the big uprising with RBI singles. However, Fort Smith rallied behind the long ball. After three hits and an error, Will Baker belted a grand slam home run for a 5-5 tie in the third and the Greyhounds went ahead 8-6 in the sixth, scoring two runs on a Quin Waterbury home run and the third on a wild pitch.
A Rorey Combs’ triple and a ground ball closed the KCKCC gap to 8-7 in the sixth after back-to-back singles by Schumacher, Woodard and Pittman had put the Blue Devils in front in the fourth 6-5. Five Blue Devils finished with two hits, Redick, Green, Fortuna, Holtgrieve and Schumacher. Corey Cowan, who gave up seven hits, was charged with all eight runs but only four were earned.
Miscues and wildness proved fatal in the opener as the Greyhounds rallied for three runs in the seventh on just one hit. After a four-pitch walk to start the inning, Fort Scott’s No. 9 hitter, Mitch McCallister, doubled over third to put runners on second and third. An error scored one run, a Shea Stephens wild pitch tied it and a line drive that couldn’t be handled scored the game-winner. Fort Scott’s first two runs came in the fourth on two singles, ground ball and wild pitch.
KCKCC took a 1-0 lead in the first on a single by Woodard and double by Pittman and made it 2-0 in the third on a triple by Pittman and a Phillips’ single. Fort Scott got even in the fourth but KCKCC went back ahead in the bottom of the inning on a double by Fortuna, a triple by Combs and a Holtgrieve sacrifice fly. Combs finished with three hits while Woodard and Pittman each had a pair. Stephens suffered only his second loss in seven starts, allowing seven hits, striking out six and walking four.