The State Fair Community College (SFCC) baseball team split a pair of Region 16 contests at home against Mineral Area College, winning game one 8-7 before falling 8-2 in the nightcap on Saturday, March 25.

SFCC (10-17, 3-7 in Region 16) found itself trailing 7-0 at the end of the first inning. The Roadrunners fought all the way back to trail 7-6 headed into the bottom of the final (seventh) inning. The Roadrunners scored another run to tie the game and won the game on a walk-off error.

"Our team was very resilient," said Roadrunners Head Coach Jud Kindle. "They didn't give up after a bad first inning. They fought back and pulled out a win."

Offensively, freshman outfielder Devyn Wright led SFCC with three hits, including a home run and five RBI. Freshman outfielder Logan Miller added two hits, including a double and an RBI. Freshman catcher/infielder Brice Eiserer drove in one run. Freshman utility player Rhett Hayward had two hits and a run batted in. Sophomore catcher/second baseman Yeoncheol Choi had two hits and scored three runs.

Sophomore pitcher Chase Carson pitched one-third of an inning, allowed seven runs, (three earned) on five hits before leaving with an injury. Carson walked two and struck out one. Freshman pitcher Korbin Bodde came out of the bullpen to pitch 4 2/3 innings, gave up four hits and struck out three. Freshman pitcher  Jack Hudson pitched the final two innings in relief, gave up one hit and walked one to earn the victory.

"That was a great outing for our bullpen," said Kindle. "Those guys did a good job for us and got some big outs."

In game two, the SFCC offense was held to seven hits. Wright had two hits, including a double and a run scored. Miller had two hits and a run scored. Freshman outfielder Sam Russo had a pair of hits and two runs batted in.

Sophomore pitcher Zach Buschschulte got the start for SFCC and pitched five innings, allowed two runs on four hits, and struck out six. Freshman pitcher Tait Robertson came out of the bullpen, gave up four runs on three hits and walked one. Sophomore pitcher Christian Whiting pitched 1 2/3 innings, gave up two runs on two hits, struck out two and walked two. Freshman pitcher Andrew Brakensiek finished the final 2 1/3 innings and surrendered two hits and struck out three.

"The pitcher (Ryker Walton) on the mound for Mineral Area was extremely good," said Kindle. "He threw strikes, was around the zone and kept his pitch count down. We didn't make a lot of solid contact against him, and they were able to get some timely hits and we didn't."

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics