All but eliminated from Jayhawk East title contention by a four-game weekend sweep by league-leading Cowley, a first round home playoff series is next up on the wish list for Kansas City Kansas Community College.
In fifth place at 13-11, the Blue Devils get a chance to catch or overtake fourth place Coffeyville (15-9) when the two teams collide for back-to-back doubleheaders at Coffeyville Saturday and Sunday. First up, however, is a home twin bill against Brown Mackie at Community America Thursday at 2 p.m.
Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Blue Devils against Cowley – two one-run losses, two shutouts and a 5-run seventh inning rally.
A 5-hit pitching performance by Zac Butler went for naught in Friday’s opening 1-0 loss as Cowley scored the game’s only run on a two-out error while the KCKCC offense was limited to four hits.
A three-run rally highlighted by singles by Trent Sullivan, Shaun Williams, R.J. Barnes and a two-run single by Gabriel Cosne gave the Blue Devils a 7-5 lead going into the seventh inning of the nightcap only to have the Tigers take advantage of a pair of one-out errors to score five times for a 10-7 win. Sullivan and Poncho Amaya had two hits each for KCKCC.
Limited to four hits including a triple by Jacob Woods and a double by Dean Long, the Blue Devils dropped a 3-0 decision in Sunday’s opener and a 3-2 setback in the nightcap.
KCKCC took a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the second game on a walk, two-out singles by Dave Richards and Long and an error but Cowley tied the game in the second and won it on a triple in the third against Payton Bosserman, who allowed just four hits but all came in the Tigers’ two scoring innings. The Blue Devils had a 6-4 edge in hitting led by Long’s two hits.
The sweep pushed Cowley’s league record to 20-4 and a two-game lead over Johnson County (18-6). Neosho and Coffeyville are a distant third at 15-9 followed by KCKCC (13-11) and Highland and Allen County, both 10-14.
