by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College’s home opening doubleheader Sunday provided a little bit of everything – stingy pitching, clutch hitting and extra inning thrills.
Down 4-2 to Northeast Nebraska in the opener, the Blue Devils scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning to force extra innings and then won it 5-4 with a run in the eighth and then followed it up with an 11-1 6-inning nightcap win.
The win boosted the Blue Devils’ record above the .500 mark at 4-3 heading into a second twin bill with Northeast Nebraska Monday starting at 12:30 p.m.
Sophomore Brandon Green provided the game’s biggest blow in the opener. With the Blue Devils just one out away from a 4-2 loss, Green delivered a two-out, two-run triple in the bottom of the seventh to tie it. A one-out single by Tyler Pittman and a walk set up the tying rally.
The Blue Devils then wasted no time in winning it in the eighth. Rorey Combs and Brandon Still led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Jared Goodfellow’s sacrifice bunt moved both runners up and Josh Schumacher’s single up the middle won it.
KCKCC took a 1-0 lead in the first when Schumacher led off with a double and scored on Gavin Gifford’s sacrifice fly but trailed 4-1 in the sixth.
The Blue Devils got one run back on a walk, a double by Still and a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Remington Kelly. Schumacher added two singles to his double, Pittman tripled and singled twice, Combs tripled and singled and Still singled twice in KCKC’s 12-hit attack.
The rally made a winner of sophomore lefthander Allan Brown, who allowed just one hit and struck out three in three innings of near flawless relief. Cole Gacke worked the first five innings, allowing five hits and four runs, one of which was unearned. He struck out five and walked two.
Freshman Orlando Ortiz followed up with a two-hit pitching gem in the 6-inning 11-1 nightcap win. Ortiz struck out nine and walked five. Three of the walks came in the second inning after a passed ball on a third strike that led to Northeast’s only run.
Kevin Santiago drove in three runs with a home run and a triple and Rorey Combs tripled and singled twice to lead a 15-hit attack. Brandon Green and Brandon Still each added a double and single while Josh Schumacher and Tyler singled twice and Remington Kelly doubled.
The Blue Devils scored in every inning. They got all the runs they would need in the first, taking a 2-0 lead on consecutive singles by Schumacher, Brigham Mooney and Pittman to start the game and an error.
They added another unearned run in the second on a double by Kelly and an error and made it 5-0 in the third on a walk, a triple by Santiago and Green’s sacrifice fly.
KCKCC added single runs in the fourth on hits by Shumacher, Pittman and Green and in the fifth on a single by Combs and Kelly’s sacrifice fly and then ended it with four runs on four extra base hits in in the sixth. Santiago started the uprising with a home run following a walk before Green doubled, Combs tripled and Still doubled to end it.