Category: KCKCC

Blue Devils foil Baker ‘Senior Day,’ to face Coffeyville

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

Kansas City Kansas Community College played spoiler at Baker University’s “Senior Day” Tuesday. Tied 2-2 through six innings, the Blue Devils took the lead in the seventh on the way to a 12-2 win.

The win improved KCKCC’s record to 27-15 heading into the final four Jayhawk Conference regular season games.

At Coffeyville Thursday, the Blue Devils will entertain the Red Ravens starting at 1 p.m. Originally scheduled for Saturday, the games were moved up to avoid threatening weather.

The Blue Devils took a 2-0 lead in the first on a leadoff double by Cole Slibowski and Palmer Hutchison’s 2-run home run to centerfield.

It was the 16th homer of the season for Hutchison, who had four hits and drove in three runs, bringing his total for the season to 50.

Baker rebounded in the second, tying the game 2-2 on a 2-out single and it stayed that way until the seventh.

The first of two triples by Ray Paniagua and a double by Cole Dawson gave the Blue Devils a 3-2 lead and they added two more in the eighth on Paniagua’s second triple following singles by Slibowski and Hutchison.

Eight Blue Devils had hits in a 7-run ninth. Caleb Adams belted his fifth home run of the season and Dawson doubled and singled. Camden Karlin also doubled and Beau Grable, Brock Stewart, Brendyn Bard and Slilbowski singled.

The Blue Devils finished with 19 hits. In addition to Hutchison’s four hits, Dawson had two doubles and a single and Slibowski doubled and singled twice while Paniagua had two triples and Karlin a double and single.

Joseph Reyes got the pitching win, allowing just four hits and two runs in six innings. He struck out five and walked two. Ivan Ortiz finished up with three innings of one-hit relief.

KCKCC’s all-Kansas golf team qualifies for national tourney

The 2021 KCKCC golf team headed for next week’s NJCAA Division I national tournament is made up of, from left, Keegan Ellington, Carson Towey, Mark Towey, Blake Mullen, Colby Unruh, Dylan Freund and Jacob Hall. (KCKCC photo)

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

Playing in the toughest NJCAA Division I golf conference has some benefits – for Kansas City Kansas Community College, a berth in the 2021 national tournament.

Six of the 20 teams in the national will come out of the region – Jayhawk members Hutchinson, Garden City, Dodge City and KCKCC and two Iowa powers, Indian Hills and Iowa Western.

The national will be played on The Rawls, the home course of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Practice rounds are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday with the 72-hole stroke play tourney to be held Monday through Thursday, May 9-12.

The Blue Devil squad will be made entirely by Kansas players, sophomores Blake Mullen of Olathe West, Mark Towey of Bishop Carroll and Dylan Freund of Cheney and two freshmen, Colby Unruh of Overland Park and Carson Towey, younger brother of Mark.

In his 21 years of coaching, Gary Shrader has taken 10 teams to the national tournament. And it’s a good bet the Blue Devils will be the most followed team in the tourney.

“The last time we were at the national tournament in Foley, Ala., the keynote speaker asked if any of the schools had all their players living in their state,” Shrader said. “We were the only ones.”

In all likelihood the Blue Devils are doing it again with their all-Kansas squad because of the heavy influx of international players on the other national qualifiers.

“We’ve had a great following all season with parents and grandparents at our meets, something other teams don’t have,” Shrader said. “It’s kind of refreshing.”

The Blue Devils earned a berth in the national by beating out Barton County for sixth place in the district tournament played at Crestview in Wichita. Hutchinson nipped Indian Hills by one stroke for the district championship followed by Iowa Western, Garden City, Dodge City and KCKCC, which edged Barton County by five shots.

Mullen, who won two tournaments early in the season, led KCKCC, finishing 18th (225) followed by Carson Towey, 31st (232); Unruh, 34th (235); Mark Towey, 38th (238); and Freund, 40th (240).

“We just got a little better every tournament with some of our most competitive rounds in the district,” Shrader said. “We beat some good teams and were probably about a half a stroke a round from having a real good season. We’re real happy to have a chance to play in the national, especially with Kansas kids reaching that level. Although we’ve had some ups and downs, it’s been a good year. The kids have been very good ambassadors for the college.”

Blue Devils go deep into bench in sweep of Baker JV

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

Coach Matt Goldbeck went deep into his pitching staff and bench in Kansas City Kansas Community College’s 9-4 and 5-4 sweep of Baker University junior varsity Monday.

With the final four games of the Jayhawk Conference regular season coming up Thursday and Saturday and a 9-inning game at Baker Tuesday, Goldback used seven pitchers and two totally different lineups with no pitcher throwing more than three innings in the 7-inning contests.

The wins lifted the Blue Devils’ record to 26-15 with conference games at Coffeyville Thursday and home Saturday to close out the season.

Home runs by Caleb Adams and Palmer Hutchison powered the Blue Devils to their 9-4 opening win. Adams followed a single by Cole Slibowski and a double by Hutchison with a 3-run homer to start the first inning and Hutchison made it 5-0 in the second with a 2-run shot following Beau Grable’s single.

The Blue Devils pounded out 14 hits including three by Adams and Hutchison and two each by Slibowski, Brendyn Bard and Grable. KCKCC scored its final four runs in the fourth on a double by Grable, consecutive singles by Slibowski, Hutchison and Adams and a 2-run double by Bard.

Tre Simmons got the win, allowing two hits in two innings, Alan Mercado worked two innings, allowing three runs on three hits before Steven Santiago finished up, giving up one run and three hits in two innings.

Four Blue Devils had two hits in the 5-4 nightcap. Samuel Juarez singled and doubled and Cole Dawson, Caleb Brown and Ivan Ortiz each singled twice in a 10-hit outburst.

Tied 1-1 after scoring an unearned run in the first, the Blue Devils scored three times in the third. Singles by Asnaldo Caicedo and Dawson and a sacrifice fly by Caleb Troutt scored one run and Caleb Brown doubled in two more.

Juarez’ double, the Blue Devils’ only extra base hit, and Troutt’s single made it 5-1 in the fifth before Baker scored three runs in the sixth.

Logan Barnard pitched the first two innings, allowing one hit. Jonah Dobson got the win, allowing one run on four hits in three innings. Brock Stewart was touched for three runs and two hits before Hunter Cashero got the last five outs.