by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Wichita – Coming into the Region VI super-regional playoffs, Hutchinson had put 55 runs on the scoreboard in winning two of three games from Coffeyville.
The Blue Dragons managed just two off Kansas City Kansas Community College righthanders Brandon Reid and reliever Avery Fliger Friday as the Blue Devils opened playoff action with a come-from-behind 4-2 win. The win sent KCKCC into second round action Saturday at 7 p.m. against Jayhawk East champion and No. 1 seeded Neosho County, a 13-3 winner over Allen County Friday.
Reid checked the Blue Dragons on six hits over 7.1 innings before Fliger came in to get the final five outs as the Blue Devils improved to 41-18.
“Brandon was outstanding,” said KCKCC coach Matt Goldbeck. “He got in a couple of jams early but worked his way out of them. He really mixed his pitches well. They weren’t able to set on his fast ball because he was throwing all his pitches for strikes.”
Chase Redick and Easton Fortuna led a 10-hit KCKCC attack with three hits while Ryan Fisher joined Redick with two runs batted in, the second on a monster home run in the eighth.
Hutch took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a single, walk and ground rule double by Caden Doga but with runners on second and third with one out, Reid fanned the next two hitters. Singles by Albert Woodard and Fortuna and Redick’s squeeze bunt got KCKCC even in the third but Hutch went right back ahead in the bottom of the inning.
Loading the bases with one out, the Blue Dragons could manage only one run as Reid got a pair of ground balls to third. From that point on, Reid allowed only two more hits over the next five innings. Reid left after giving up a one-out walk in the eighth. Fliger came on to strike out three of the first four hitters he faced and after surrendering a pair of two-out singles in the ninth, ended it with a pop-up to second.
Meanwhile, the Blue Devils got even in the sixth on a leadoff double by Redick and a two-out single by Fisher and then went ahead to stay in the seventh on Redick’s single following a hit batsman and Fortuna’s second of three singles. Fisher provided an insurance run in the eighth, crushing a 400-foot home run to dead center, his seventh of the season.
“A good win,” Goldbeck said. “Offensively, that’s a good team. Fisher put a great swing on the home run and our No. 9 hitter (Fortuna) and leadoff man (Redick) delivered when we needed it most.” Hutch fell to 38-19. It was the fourth straight time the Blue Dragons had a chance to get 21 games over .500 but failed.