Tigers drop4-3 extra-inning heartbreaker to KCK at District Tourney
In a match-up of the only two remaining unbeaten teams at the District Plains Tournament, the third-seeded Kansas City Kansas Community College Blue Devils defeated fifth-seed Cowley College 4-3 in 10 innings on Friday at Wichita State University’s Eck Stadium at Tyler Field. Kansas City advances to Saturday’s championship at 4 p.m. The Blue Devils (43-18) will earn the automatic berth to the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, CO, with a win. With a loss, they would play again on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Cowley (37-22) will play again on Saturday at 1 p.m. against either top-seed Johnson County (58-3) or No. 10 seed Barton (35-21), with the winner advancing to the district title game at 4 p.m.
The Blue Devils got on the board first as Owen Musil led off the bottom of the second inning with a single off Cowley starter Chance Acord and scored on a one-out double by Trevor McGraw.
Kansas City starting pitcher Donovan Johnson, who entered the game with a 5-1 record, held the Tigers hitless through the first five innings before freshman shortstop Josiah Sems tripled down the first base line leading off the top of the sixth inning. Wichita State commit Drake Fittro followed with a walk, and Skyler Branam then hit a flyball to Kansas City right fielder Trevor McGrew, who threw home to get Sems out at the plate and preserve the 1-0 lead.
Acord, who has signed early with the University of Oklahoma, gave the Tigers a strong outing before running into trouble in the bottom of the sixth.
The Blue Devils got back-to-back singles to open the bottom of the sixth, and Acord then hit Braden Horn to load the bases with nobody out. Burroughs would then call on sophomore Keagan Robertson to take the ball in place of Acord. Robertson got McGraw to hit into a double play and got out of the inning with only one run scoring.
Acord allowed six hits and two runs in five innings pitched. He also struck out six and walked one.
Johnson matched Acord on the mound while pitching into the seventh before being relieved by Caden Howell after a one-out walk to Hudson Roberts. The Tigers were happy to get Johnson off the mound as Jace Patton rudely greeted Howell by belting a two-run homer to tie the game at 2-2.
The home run was the second of the tournament and eighth of the season for Patton.
Johnson finished with a pitching line of 6 1/3 innings, allowing one hit and one run, while striking out six and walking five.
Howell would last only one more batter and was relieved by Camden Brashear following a walk to first baseman Quinn Groebl. Brashear promptly walked the first batter he faced, Josiah Sems, to put runners at first and second with only one out before getting Drake Fittro to tap into a ground ball double play.
Robertson retired the lone batter he faced in the bottom of the seventh before Burroughs summoned sophomore Jack Hamm from the bullpen. Hamm worked around a one-out walk to get Brady Kern to ground out to first to end the inning.
Branam singled off the first baseman's glove leading off the eighth inning, but Logan Smith followed by hitting into a double play. However, Holden Groebl then hit a one-hop double off the right field wall to put a runner in scoring position with two outs. Brashear buckled down, though, and got Easton Green to ground out to short to end the threat.
After tossing 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief in the 4-2 win over Hutchinson on Wednesday, Hamm continued to put up zeroes in Friday's game, keeping the game tied at 2-2 after nine innings of play. Hamm has now tossed five scoreless innings at the tourney.
Unfortunately, Brashear was throwing up zeroes of his own. After retiring the first two batters of the 10th inning, Brashear allowed back-to-back singles to Logan Smith and Holden Groebl to put runners at first and second with two outs. After a mound visit, KCK's head coach decided to leave Brashear in to face Easton Green. The move backfired as Green singled to left to score Smith with what would have been the game-winning run.
However, Tiger closer Riley Lile came on to pitch the 10th and sandwiched a pair of outs around two hit batters. Needing one more out to advance to the championship, Kansas City's Owen Musil hit a sharp line drive off a leaping Logan Smith at third base as Brady Kern and Sawyer Tolk crossed the plate to send the Blue Devils into the championship round.
Cowley will need to find some Tiger magic on Saturday, needing to win a pair of games to force a final game on Sunday.
Score by inning: R H E
Cowley 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 – 3 8 1
KCK 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 – 4 8 0