by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College got outstanding pitching performances from a pair of freshmen from Liberty North High School to get back on the winning track on their annual spring road trip to Dallas, Texas.
Cole Gacke hurled a 3-hit gem in blanking Richland Community College 2-0 to snap a 3-game KCKCC losing streak Sunday and Jake Bartshe worked five innings of one-run relief in a 6-3 nightcap win for a sweep that boosted the Blue Devils’ season record to 4-3. The two wins came after KCKCC had dropped a doubleheader to Eastfield 7-0 and 12-11 on Saturday.
Gacke allowed only one runner to reach third base in his 2-0 shutout. He walked two, stranded four and finished spectacularly, striking out the side in the seventh in a six strikeout performance. The Blue Devils scored the game’s only runs in the first. After a one-out walk, Alex Phillips and Drew Holtgrieve rapped back-to-back run-scoring doubles.
Bartshe came on in relief in the third inning after Richland had scored twice in the first inning off starter Corey Cowan and scattered four hits, striking out five and walking one in five innings. The Blue Devils backed him with 10 hits including two each by Tyler Pittman, Chase Redick and Phillips.
Tied 3-3 in the sixth, the Blue Devils went ahead on Pittman’s two-out single following a one-out hit by Dade Wheeler. KCKCC added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh on Zach Mahoney’s 2-run double following a pair of errors. Pittman also had a run-scoring double in the fourth and Phillips also drove in two runs with a single and double.
KCKCC got two home runs including a grand slam and seven RBI from Drew Holtgrieve in the 12-11 loss to Eastfield. The Blue Devils also got a solo home run and a single by Albert Woodard and a pair of singles from Pittman in a 10-hit attack in a game in which they led 5-3, trailed 11-6 and were tied 11-11 before Eastfield scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the fifth on a walk, hit batsman and single.
Trailing 11-6, KCKCC tied the game with five runs in the fifth. After a leadoff home run by Woodard, the Blue Devils loaded the bases on a single by Pittman and two walks to set up Holtgrieve’s grand slam. Holtgrieve also capped a four-run first inning with a two-run home run and then singled in another run in the second. KCKCC;s other run came in the fourth on a double by Phillips.
Eastfield took advantage of wildness for a 7-0 win in Saturday’s opening game. Three Blue Devil hurlers walked eight and six of the eight scored. Offensively, KCKCC had a 7-6 edge in hits including two each by Albert Woodard and Rorey Combs but left seven runners stranded.