Roadrunners baseball continues Region 16 competition

March 14 - John Wood Community College at Sedalia

The Roadrunners picked up an 8-7 walk-off victory over John Wood Community College at Liberty Park Stadium-Dey Field.

The SFCC offense produced only five hits. Freshman outfielder Sam Russo had a hit in the game, along with sophomore infielder Adam Webb. Freshman outfielder John Greenwood recorded a triple and scored two runs. Freshman infielder Elijah Cheaney doubled and drove in three runs. Sophomore infielder Conlan Downey had a hit and drove in two runs. Freshman first baseman Nick Williams drove in a run, along with freshman utility player Rhett Hayward. Freshman outfielder Devyn Wright scored two runs. Webb scored three runs.

Sophomore Conner Fletcher got the start on the mound for SFCC. He pitched 4 1/3 innings, gave up six runs (five earned) on four hits, struck out five, and walked three. Freshman Tait Robertson came out of the bullpen and pitched 2 2/3 innings, gave up two hits, walked two, and struck out two. Freshman Brock Steggall pitched the final two innings, gave up a hit, an unearned run, and struck out three. Steggall earned the win in relief.

March 19 - Crowder College at Neosho, Missouri

SFCC dropped a pair of games 1-0 in eight innings and 10-2 in seven innings to Crowder College. The games were part of the Region 16 schedule.

The first game went into extra innings tied at zero. Crowder picked up a walk-off victory when the team pushed across a run in the bottom the eighth inning.

Sophomore outfielder Logan Miller led the SFCC offense with three hits.  Webb had a pair of hits and stole a base. Freshman Kaden McBratney stole a base.

Sophomore Chase Carson got the start on the mound for SFCC and pitched five innings, gave up no hits, struck out 10, and walked two. Sophomore Christian Whitting came out of the bullpen and pitched two innings, gave up one run on one hit, walked four, and struck out one. Robertson pitched two-thirds of an inning, gave up a hit and walked two.

In game two, the SFCC offense was held to just two hits, a triple from Wright and a home run from freshman utility player Rhett Hayward who drove in the only two runs for SFCC.

Freshman Keith Piepmeier got the start for SFCC and pitched one inning, gave up five runs (four earned runs) on five hits, struck out one, and walked one. Freshman Jacob House pitched two-thirds of an inning, allowed five runs (three earned runs) on two hits. House struck out one and walked one. Freshman Brandon Hull pitched one-third inning and walked one. Sophomore Garrett Dotson pitched four innings, gave up no runs on two hits, struck out two and walked one.

March 20 - Crowder College at Sedalia

SFCC (9-16, 2-6 in Region 16) fell in a pair of games against Crowder College 7-3 and 10-3 at Liberty Park Stadium-Dey Field. The doubleheader was part of the Region 16 schedule.

In game one, SFCC scored twice in the bottom of the first inning. Crowder got on the board in the top of the third inning to cut the lead to 2-1. The Roadrunners added one run to take a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Crowder made the score 3-2 with a run in the top of the fourth inning.

In the seventh, Crowder took control of the game with a five-run inning.

Wright had two hits and scored twice to lead SFCC offensively. Miller scored a run; Downey drove in two runs, and Russo drove in a run.

Sophomore Zach Buschschulte got the start on the mound for SFCC and pitched 5 1/3 innings, gave up two runs on five hits, and struck out eight. Steggall came out of the bullpen and pitched 1 2/3 innings, gave up five runs on four hits, struck out two, and walked two.

"We played well in the first game, but we just couldn't come up with timely hits," said Roadrunners Baseball Head Coach Jud Kindle. "We pitched the ball well and had a chance to win in the seventh inning; we just didn't take care of it."

In game two, SFCC got off to a fast start scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning. Crowder responded with seven runs in the top of the third inning to take the lead. Crowder added three more runs in the top of the fifth inning. SFCC picked up a single run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Miller had two hits, a run scored, and an RBI in game two. Catcher/infielder Brice Eiserer had two hits in the game. Hayward had a pair of hits. Wright had a double and an RBI. Russo drove in a run.

Freshman Andrew Brakensiek got the start on the mound for SFCC and pitched 2 2/3 innings, allowed seven runs (six earned) on nine hits, and struck out four. Fletcher came out of the bullpen and pitched two innings, allowed three runs on five hits, and struck out two. Freshman Korbin Bodde finished the game and pitched 4 1/3 innings, gave up two hits, and struck out seven.

"We gave up one big inning in the third, which cost us all of the momentum," said Kindle. "We just couldn't overcome that."

David Rohrbach
SFCC Athletics