COFFEYVILLE — Allen Community College and Coffeyville entered their four-game series last week with similar resumes in 2022.
Both were two games under .500 in the Jayhawk Conference standings — Allen at 7-9; Coffeyville at 9-11. Overall, the Red Devils were 18-14; Coffeyville, 18-15.
So it stands to imagine, their games would be tightly fought as well.
And they were.
Allen rallied from an early two-run deficit in Saturday’s opener, scoring once in the fifth, once in the seventh to force extra innings and once in the eighth to secure a 3-2 win.
But the Red Ravens returned the favor in the nightcap, scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth to eke out a 3-2 win of its own.
The game 2 loss spoiled another brilliant pitching performance by ACC’s Josh Fluet, who allowed a leadoff double in the first, and then nothing until a pair of fateful walks in the sixth.
Allen summoned Levi Bennett in from the bullpen, but a hit batter loaded the bases, with one out, and allowed Coffeyville to break a 1-1 tie with a sacrifice fly to the next batter, and a wild pitch brought home an all-important insurance run.
Allen rallied in the top of the seventh. Pinch hitter Sal Jacobo ripped a one-out single before Lucas Banta was hit by a pitch and Christian Altamirano walked to load the bases.
Frai Roangeraud hit a sacrifice fly to pull Allen to within 3-2, but a ground-out ended the game with the tying run still at second base.
Fluet wound up allowing just the one hit with nine strikeouts, including seven in a row at one point. Bennett allowed neither a hit nor a run in his two-thirds of an inning of work.
Ayden Blachowicz drove in Bennett with a two-out double in the first to give Allen a 1-0 lead, but Coffeyville tied the score after its only hit, a leadoff double, turned into a run courtesy of a sacrifice bunt and a ground ball.
Blachowicz finished with two doubles, and Jacob had a single.
OFFENSE also was at a premium in the opener, as Allen’s Brett Buchanan was masterful on the mound.
He allowed a run on a hit-by-pitch and a double in the first, and averted further trouble after Coffeyville loaded the bases with a double, hit-batter and single in the bottom of the third. The Red Ravens made it 2-0 on a double play grounder.
