CONCORDIA — Allen Community College was unable to replicate the pitching that gave the Red Devils a series-opening win over Cloud County in the Region VI playoffs over the weekend.
Cloud jumped ahead early in Games 2 and 3 of the best-of-3 series, winning 10-3 on Friday and 15-8 in Saturday’s clincher.
Allen, which was minus five pitchers due to injury by the time the playoffs rolled around, ended the year at 21-35.
The T-Birds took a 2-0 lead in the first inning of Friday’s matchup before Allen’s Payton Pudenz settled down nicely in innings 2-4.
But he ran into trouble after getting two outs in the fifth. Landon Meyer had a two-run single and Cam McLeod doubled in a pair as part of a six-run outburst to take control.
Collin Godfrey got Allen onto the board with a two-run home run in the top of the sixth. Parker Martin added an RBI double in the eighth, one of his two hits in the contest. Armando Navarro added a double, while Caleb Horsey chipped in with a single.
Pudenz allowed five hits over 4.2 innings, striking out four. Ethan Payne, Brandon McKarnin and Brodie Gleason came on in relief. McKarnin, an Iola native, allowed one hit over two innings with a pair of strikeouts.
CLOUD’S JAKOB Paturnak had a three-run home run in the fifth inning and a two-run blast shot in Saturday’s decisive game.
Parker Martin once again gave Allen an early charge with a fourth-inning home run, pulling the Red Devils to within 3-1, but TJ Coats hit a three-run home run for Cloud in the bottom of the inning to break the game open.
Anthony Talpa hit a bases-clearing double during Allen’s six-run seventh inning, but that was enough only to pull ACC to within 14-7.
Navarro capped Allen’s scoring with a solo home run in the eighth.
Talpa had a home run and single, while Parker Martin had a single and double to pace the offense. Navarro had the other home run. Godfrey singled twice. Logan Martin and Garrett Rusch added singles.
Saul Bolivar surrendered six hits over four innings with four strikeouts. Elias Muller, Seth Broadwell, Brayden Thompson and Manuel Toro pitched in relief. They combined to strike out three.
