by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Sophomore Brigham Mooney and freshman Kevin Santiago each homered and drove in four runs apiece Saturday to power Kansas City Kansas Community College to a 9-3 win over Richland Community College in Dallas, Texas.
The win evened the Blue Devils’ record at 2-2 heading into a doubleheader with Eastfield Sunday in Fort Worth before they return to play host to Northeast Nebraska in a pair of doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday.
The Blue Devils continued to get pitching on the spring trip as Cole Gacke and Carlos Soto combined on a 6-hitter in the 9-inning contest. On Friday, four KCKCC hurlers gave up just six singles in dividing a pair of 7-inning games.
Gacke worked the first six innings, allowing four hits and three runs while striking out seven and walking two. Soto gave up a single to the first batter he faced in the seventh, then picked him off first base and then allowed only one hit the final three innings. Two of Richland’s three runs off Gacke came on solo home runs.
Santiago had three hits, Josh Schumacher singled and tripled and Tyler Pittman doubled and singled in a 10-hit attack off three Richland hurlers.
The Blue Devils wasted no time in taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Santiago’s two-out single scored both runs after KCKCC loaded the bases on a leadoff single by Schumacher, passed ball on a third strike and a hit batsman. Mooney made it 5-1 in the fourth with a 3-run home run to left center after a pair of two-out walks.
Richland closed the KCKCC lead to 5-3 in the fourth before Santiago slugged a two-run home run after a Brandon Green single in the fifth. The Blue Devils’ final two runs came in the ninth on a triple by Schumacher, Mooney’s sacrifice fly, a double by Pittman and a wild pitch.