by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College will open Region VI playoff action Saturday at Butler County – but not until after the Blue Devils close out home field non-conference action.
At home today in a 3 p.m. doubleheader against Saint Mary’s JV, the Blue Devils will also play host to Maple Woods in a pair of 7-inning games at 1 p.m. Tuesday.
In Butler County, the Blue Devils (28-23) will be facing a team (26-27) that finished in a three-way tie for third in the Jayhawk West (17-15). A best-of-three series, two 9-inning games will be played in El Dorado Saturday starting at 1 p.m. with a third game if necessary set for Sunday.
Blanked 7-0 by Fort Scott in the opening game of a doubleheader Sunday, the Blue Devils rebounded behind the pitching of Brandon Martinkus for a 5-3 win that secured a fifth place finish in the Jayhawk East (16-20).
After Fort Scott had taken a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the nightcap, the Blue Devils tied it in the second on singles by Sam Baxter and Daniel LaMunyon and a squeeze bunt by Landon Mason. The Greyhounds regained the lead with two runs in the third but KCKCC got a run in the bottom of the inning on one of three singles by Alex Thrower and an RBI single by Travis Stroup.
Trailing 3-2, the Blue Devils won it with three runs in the fifth. After a one-out single by Thrower and a double by Tanner Freschler, Stroup singled in the tying run, Eli Lovell’s sacrifice fly scored the go-ahead run and Baxter added an insurance run with a double.
Martinkus took it from there, allowing only two baserunners over the final six innings, finishing with a 6-hitter, walking one and striking out five.
Fort Scott had pulled into a tie with the Blue Devils for fifth place in the 7-0 opening loss as Ryan McCollough allowed just two hits – singles by Foreschler and Tyler Raymond – while striking out seven.
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director for KCKCC.