After 28 years, the sound of bats hitting hardballs returned to SFCC on Feb. 20 when the Roadrunners won 14-0 over the Evangel University Crusaders JV team from Springfield at Dey Field in Liberty Park Stadium. SFCC Board of Trustees President Randall D. Eaton threw out the ceremonial first pitch surrounded by other trustees. 

Starting pitcher and Sedalia native Chase Plymell struck out the EU leadoff hitter to record the first out. 

SFCC's offense took off in the bottom of the first when freshman Steven Bradbury was hit by a pitch. He scored on a double by freshman D.J. McNew. In the bottom of the second, freshman Colton Brown led off with a base hit. Freshman Blake Ford laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Brown to second base. Brown went to third on an errant pickoff throw by the Crusaders catcher. Dalton Zaremba scored Brown on a base hit. The Roadrunners added one more run in the second to take a 3-0 lead. 

SFCC tacked on three runs in the third inning and blew the game open with six runs in the fifth. The Roadrunners totaled 17 hits for the game. 

"We played well in all phases of the game," said Kindle. "We came out a little nervous, but Plymell did an excellent job of locating pitches and limiting his pitch count. He pitched to contact and limited walks. The whole pitching staff did a good job. Offensively, we took good approaches at the plate. We got our bunts down and did the small things right." 

Plymell threw 5 2/3 innings to record the win. He recorded eight strikeouts and combined with three relievers to record the shutout. 

Freshman Andru Baxley led the SFCC offense with two hits and scored three runs. Bradbury had two hits and scored twice. Brown and Ford recorded two hits and scored two runs each. Sophomore Derek Miller drove in a pair of runs. 

Kindle's first career win as a collegiate head coach was a special accomplishment. "I am excited and relieved," said Kindle. "My goal was to be the head baseball coach at State Fair when I first got back to Sedalia.  We had an excellent crowd. The community has been looking forward to collegiate baseball for a long time, and I'm glad I got to be a part of bringing it back to SFCC." 

The next home game is a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Feb. 22 against Allen County Community College at Dey Field in Liberty Park Stadium. 

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics