Cavaliers in winner-take-all game tonight

5/14/2008
Story by Tyler Cundith
Pulled from www.jccc.edu

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- The Johnson County Community College baseball team will face cross-town rival Kansas City Kansas Community College in a winner-take-all game tonight in the Region VI Tournament at Lawrence Dumont Stadium in Wichita, Kan.

The Blue Devils forced the final game by handing the Cavaliers its first loss of the tournament, 16-7. The Blue Devils hit early and often, racking up 18 hits and 16 runs. Six of KCK’s lineup had two or more hits, led by center fielder Zach Theadman’s four-hit, three-RBI effort.

Kansas City Kansas jumped out to an early lead with four runs in the top of the first, and another in the top of the second. JCCC closed the gap with single runs in the second and fourth, but the Blue Devils broke the game open with a six-run fifth and three-run sixth, to lead 14-2.

The Cavaliers did mount a comeback, combining for five runs in the sixth and seventh off Blue Devils starter Trent Kohlstaedt, but it wasn’t enough.
Offensively, JCCC was led by freshmen outfielders John Lenherr (Hutchinson, Kan.) and Parker Amos (Shawnee Mission Northwest H.S.) Lenherr was 3-for-5 with an RBI, and Amos went 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Freshman second baseman David Drahozal (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) had two hits and an RBI, and sophomore Jeremy Francis (Emporia, Kan.) had a hit, scored twice and stole two bases.

The Cavaliers will go staff ace, sophomore left-hander Travis Blankenship of Lawrence, Kan. Blankenship leads the team with 10 wins this season. Also available if needed will be JCCC’s No. 2 starter, left-hander Brandon Droge, who ranks among the nation’s leaders in ERA.

A victory tonight would advance JCCC (40-16) to its first NJCAA JUCO World Series. This year’s World Series is May 24-3, at Suplizio Field in Grand Junction, Colo.

View the box score.