On a pressure-packed day in which both teams scored a combined 37 runs over the course of their doubleheader, the proceedings came down to a bunt.
With one out in the top of the ninth, Allen Community College pinch hitter Mees Robberse laid a perfectly placed squeeze bunt down the first-base line with the winning run standing on third base.
The Fort Scott Community College first baseman dove for the ball, but could only knock it down as Allen’s Bjarne Reinhardt raced across home plate for the decisive tally in a 9-8 victory.
The win offered some much-needed salve for the Red Devils, who saw Fort Scott storm from behind, scoring nine runs over the final three innings of a 12-8 victory in the first game.
The teams may not be done with the drama just yet, as the four-game series shifts to Fort Scott for another doubleheader on Saturday.
Allen’s winning rally came after Fort Scott, which trailed 8-2 after four innings, almost replicated its earlier stunning comeback by plating three in the fifth, and then single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth to tie the score.
This time, the Red Devils had an answer. Tyler Martin laced an opposite-field single to start Allen’s half of the ninth. Reinhardt came in as a pinch runner and promptly stole second and moved to third on Jack Harris’s grounder to short.
Colton Ayres was hit by a pitch, putting runners at the corners for Robberse’s walk-off bunt.
The victory relied upon several key performances.
Collin Godfrey’s two-run blast in the bottom of the first got Allen onto the scoreboard before things really got going with a two-out rally in the fourth. Cale Clark, who led off the frame with a single, scored on Larson Lott’s two-out hit. Parker Martin’s bases-loaded walk two batters later drove in another run before Armando Navarro delivered a two-run single. Parker Martin scored on a balk and Godfrey’s RBI single made it 8-2.
Jaret Nelson smashed a three-run home run in the fifth to help the Greyhounds close the gap. The Red Devils failed to score in the fifth after a runner was thrown out at home, and could not take advantage after getting the leadoff batters on base in both the sixth and seventh.
Fort Scott’s Cord Dobrinski doubled to lead off the top of the ninth. He moved up on a ground ball, and scored on back-to-back ground balls to knot the score at 8-8.
Allen pitcher Manuel Toro got the start, working the first six innings and striking out three, while scattering 10 hits. Ethan Payne and Seth Broadwell finished things over the final three innings. Broadwell got the win, allowing two hits over 2.1 innings.
Meanwhile, the Red Devils rapped out 15 hits. Navarro had three hits and two RBIs. Godfrey singled and homered, driving in three. Tyler Martin also had three singles, while Larson Lott singled twice. Clark, Jack Harris and Ayres each had a single.
THURSDAY’S opener had the markings of a Red Devil runaway in the early going. Ayres got things going with a two-run double in the bottom of the second. Kyle Kleweno followed with an RBI single, and Parker Martin made it 4-0 with an RBI ground ball.
