May 3 St. Charles Community College at Sedalia, Missouri
The third-seeded State Fair Community College (SFCC) Roadrunners opened postseason play splitting the first two games against the sixth-seeded St. Charles Community College Cougars in the Region 16 Sub-Regional. SFCC won the first game 5-4 in walk-off fashion. St. Charles bounced back to win game two 5-4.
In game one, SFCC scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to secure the victory. Freshman infielder Brett Holden scored from second base on a ground ball from sophomore outfielder Hayden Bradford. Bradford dove into first base just ahead of the tag. Holden scored to touch off the celebration.
"It was very important for us to get to that ninth inning," said Roadrunners Baseball Head Coach Jud Kindle. "I want to commend my players for staying in the game and taking quality at-bats, because, we don't play from behind that often. Garrett Morrow coming in and pitching like he did was big for us. We did the small things well to put ourselves in that situation."
Brett Holden had a double and a triple. He scored twice and drove in a run. Freshman outfielder Brice Pannier had a pair of hits, including a double. He also scored twice and drove in a run. Sophomore catcher Blake Ford also had a double and a run scored. Bradford and freshman Jake Lufft also drove in a run each.
Sophomore pitcher Logan Bexten got the start on the mound for SFCC. He pitched six and one-third innings. He gave up four runs, all earned, on seven hits and struck out four. SFCC got good work out of the bullpen from freshman pitcher Garrett Morrow. Freshman pitcher Austin Brooks picked up the win in relief, pitching one-third of an inning.
In game two, the visiting Roadrunners loaded the bases in the top of the ninth with no outs, but were unable to push across a run.
Bradford had a pair of hits and a walk. Lufft belted a home run and drove in two runs. Brett Holden had a hit, scored twice, and drove in a run. Sophomore infielder Kyle Clark recorded a double and a run batted in.
Sophomore pitcher Bill Cain got the start for SFCC in game two. He pitched seven and two-thirds innings. Cain allowed five runs, three of which were earned and struck out eight.
"We just let the game get away from us," said Kindle. "I thought Bill had a good start. We just didn't have much offense behind him. We produced a little bit and we put ourselves in the right position in the top the ninth. We had our top three run producers hitting in the ninth, we just couldn't get it done."
May 4 St. Charles Community College at Sedalia, Missouri
SFCC advanced to the Region 16 Tournament on Saturday, May 4 holding off a late rally to defeat St. Charles Community College 14-13 inside Liberty Park Stadium-Dey Field. The Roadrunners won the series 2-1. This marks the second Sub-Regional victory since the resumption of the program.
"I think it says a lot about the student-athletes that we are bringing in to our program," said Kindle. "They are extremely competitive and they understand what's expected of them here."
SFCC led 14-8 entering the top the ninth inning. The Cougars scored five runs to cut the deficit to one, before sophomore pitcher Brady Rentel recorded a strikeout to end the game.
Six Roadrunners recorded two hits in the deciding contest. Pannier scored three times and drove in a run. Clark scored twice and walked three times to go along with a pair of hits. Bradford also had a pair of hits. Sophomore outfielder Brady Holden had a pair of hits, including a double to go along with a run scored and two runs batted in. Jones had a pair of hits, including a double. He scored a run and drove in a run. Freshman infielder Malik Stevenson had two hits to go along with two runs scored and two runs batted in. Freshman infielder Brett Holden had two hits, including a triple. He scored twice and drove in two runs.
Sophomore pitcher Jack Schmedding got the start on the mound for SFCC. He pitched four and one-third innings. Schmedding allowed six runs, only four of which were earned on 11 hits. He struck out three. Brooks got the win in relief, pitching one and one-third innings. He allowed two runs and struck out one. Rentel earned the save.
"When you get in postseason play everything matters," said Kindle. "St. Charles is an extremely competitive team. There wasn't one inning where I felt comfortable out of the entire 27 innings that we played this weekend. I commend St. Charles. They came in and gave us a heck of a fight. It was probably the best series that I've ever been a part of."
The Roadrunners record currently stands at 33-19.
David Rohrbach
SFCC Athletics