Feb. 28 Indian Hills Community College at Sedalia
The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Roadrunners defeated the Indian Hills Community College Warriors 4-2 on Friday, Feb. 28 at Liberty Park Stadium-Dey Field. The victory was the third in a row for SFCC.
Indian Hills got on the scoreboard first with a run in the top the second inning. The Roadrunners tied the game with a run in the bottom of the third inning. The Warriors responded with a run in the top of the fourth. SFCC tied the game once again with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Roadrunners would tack on single runs in the sixth and seventh innings to secure the victory.
Sophomore infielder Kole Ficken of Boonville collected three hits and a run batted in. Sophomore infielder Jason Gonzalez of Lee's Summit, sophomore infielder/pitcher Jake Lufft of Blue Springs, sophomore outfielder Brice Pannier of Sedalia, and freshman catcher Dylan Watson of Boonville each had a double in the contest. Pannier, Watson, and redshirt freshman outfielder Tommy Ruether of St. Louis contributed one run batted in each.
Freshman pitcher Connor Barnes of Boonville got the start and the win for SFCC. Barnes pitched seven innings, and gave up two runs on seven hits and struck out nine. Sophomore pitcher Garrett Morrow of Grain Valley pitched the final two innings and struck out three to record the save.
Feb 29 Lake Land College at Sedalia
SFCC hung on for a 10-8 victory over Lake Land College in a seven inning contest on Saturday, Feb. 29 at Liberty Park Stadium-Dey Field. SFCC ran their winning streak to four games with the victory.
Ruether led the SFCC offense with two doubles, three runs batted in, and two runs scored. Sophomore infielder Brett Holden of St. Joseph also had a pair of hits to go along with three runs scored and two RBIs. Redshirt freshman infielder Seth Kamykowski of Buffalo registered a pair of hits and a run scored. Lufft drove in two runs. Pannier also scored twice.
Sophomore pitcher Peyton Seiz of Holden got the start and the win for SFCC. He pitched 4 1/3 innings, allowed six runs on seven hits and struck out four. Lufft pitched in the seventh inning and picked up the save.
March 1 Lincoln Land Community College at Sedalia
SFCC (9-7) split a doubleheader against the Lincoln Land Community College Loggers from Springfield, Illinois on Sunday, March 1. The games were scheduled to be seven inning contests. SFCC dropped the first game of the doubleheader 4-3 in nine innings before bouncing back to win game two 4-3 inside Liberty Park Stadium-Dey Field.
In game one, SFCC scored a single run in the bottom of the first inning. They tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Loggers tied the game with three runs in the top of the seventh inning and scored the game-winning run in the top the ninth inning.
SFCC could only muster four hits in game one. Freshman outfielder/pitcher Brady Strickert had two runs batted in in the game.
Freshman pitcher Antonio Escano of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic got the start on the mound for SFCC. He pitched six innings, allowing no runs on three hits. He struck out five to earn a no decision. Lufft pitched 2 1/3 innings and he allowed one run on two hits to pick up the loss in relief.
"We just got beat by a team that did the small things better than us," said Roadrunners Head Coach Jud Kindle. "We have to get better doing small things like bunts. We also need to improve our base running."
In game two, Lincoln Land scored a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. SFCC responded with one in the bottom of the second inning and another run in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie the game. The Loggers scored one more run in the top of the sixth inning. SFCC sophomore outfielder Jordan McClellan of Liberty launched one of his two triples on the day into right field to drive in two runs to give his team the lead.
"McClellan came up with another good approach at the plate and drove another ball to right-center field," said Kindle. "We also got a great pitching performance from Andrew Clark. The pitching was pretty good all-around today. We just have to do a better job offensively."
McClellan also drove in three runs. Redshirt freshman infielder Clayton Meyer of Sedalia scored three runs in the game.
Clark went the distance on the mound for SFCC. He allowed three runs, two of which were earned on four hits and struck out two.
Coach Kindle picked up victory number 100 as a collegiate head coach with the win in game two.
"I've had really good assistant coaches and really good players throughout my time here," said Kindle. Those are the people who win games."
David Rohrbach
SFCC Athletics