MANHATTAN, Kan. - After falling to No. 1 seed Cowley on Thursday, The No. 3 seed KCKCC baseball team had fallen into the elimination bracket for Friday's contests. The Blue Devils were able to mount a comeback against No. 5 seed JCCC with an 8-7 win, before Cowley took the championship game on a walk-off two-run single by a score of 6-5 over the Blue Devils.
KCKCC stands at 50-12 for the year.
Against JCCC, the Blue Devils faced a 7-5 deficit in the bottom of the eighth inning with their season on the line. Cole Dawson and Palmer Hutchison both led off the inning with base hits as they stood at second and third base with nobody out. A walk by Caleb Adams later on put three runners on base, when Pablo Sanchez ripped a double down the first base line to score all three runs. The Blue Devils maintained the lead in the top of the ninth to shutdown the Cavaliers and advance to the title game.
Dawson and Darius Freeman each had three hits for the team. Freeman and Sanchez also added two RBI apiece.
The Blue Devils would get their rematch against Cowley in the second game of the day and fought back from a 3-0 deficit starting in the sixth inning. Freeman would hit an infield single to bring in the first two runs - Hutchison and Dawson. Cowley held a 3-2 lead into the eight inning, but the Blue Devils came alive in the eighth with three runs.
With one out in the frame, Sanchez doubled to left field and the Blue Devils had men on second and third with one out. Adams and Brendyn Bard hit back-to-back singles to score the three runs in the inning and the team went up 5-3 heading to the bottom of the eighth. Cowley would add a run, before the Blue Devils went scoreless in the ninth. KCKCC had a chance to win, but a one out double by the Tigers gave them a chance with runners at second and third. The Tigers' Logan Vaughan would earn a base hit down the first base line to end the game.
Sanchez, Adams, Bard and Dawson each had two hits for the Blue Devils.
The Blue Devils' season comes to an end as they advanced all the way to the Plains District Championship game, ignited by an opening round series sweep over Pratt CC at home just last week.
