Red Devils pick up conference wins

Val McLean isn’t certain how the rest of the 2014 baseball season will turn out, but he’s optimistic his Allen Community College Red Devils may have found some confidence to boost them through the second half of the conference season.
Allen did more than pick up its first Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division win of the season over the weekend. The Red Devils took three of four from Labette Community College.
Allen swept a home doubleheader Friday, 5-4 and 7-5, before splitting a pair of games on Saturday in Parsons, winning the opener, 12-4, before a mid-game letdown prevented an ACC sweep in a 10-5 loss.
The series puts Allen at 3-17 in conference play and 8-22 overall.
“We got some tremendous really good pitching,” McLean said. “We hope this is the catalyst for us to turn this thing around.”
Strong starting pitching from John Prohaska and Chase Cunningham on Friday were pivotal, as was the relief work of Keil Stauffer at the end of both games.
Prohaska limited Labette to two hits over five innings in Friday’s opener with one earned run. But eight walks were problematic, and the teams traded the lead four times in the contest.
The key rally came when Trever Kreifel drove in Levi Ashmore and Trey Francis on a two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the fourth.
Prohaska and Stauffer took it from there, retiring the last 10 Cardinals in order.
Prohaska spotted Labette an early 1-0 lead — courtesy of four walks — before Kyle Foster singled and scored on a fielder’s choice.
Drew Walden’s RBI single in the third pushed ACC on top 3-1 before three walks and an error led to a three-run fourth by Labette, giving the Cardinals a 4-3 lead.
Prohaska struck out five to get the win. Stauffer struck out one in his two perfect innings to get the save.
Walden went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, while Ashmore and Foster both singled twice. Kreifel also had a single.

ALLEN built up a 7-0 lead in Friday’s nightcap before holding on as Labette scored five in the top of the ninth and had the tying run at the plate with only one out.
But Stauffer again put out the Cardinal fire, getting a strikeout and ground ball to end the game.
Sean Maruo stroked a two-run single to give ACC a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second. An RBI single by Foster and run-scoring double by Chase Egelston pushed the lead to 4-0 an inning later.
Maruo singled and scored on an error in the fourth before Walden drove in Egelston with a single for the sixth run in the fifth.
Francis singled to drive in Clint Heffern in the eighth for the final tally.
Chase Cunningham was dominant in his seven innings, allowing just four hits while striking out six. Stauffer allowed two hits and three wild pitches, but still got the save. Zachary Maskill allowed a hit and three walks in one inning. He struck out one.

THE FUN continued Saturday as Allen led 6-0 after 2 1/2 innings.
Labette closed the gap to 6-4 before the Red Devils scored six in the top of the seventh to clinch the win.
Kreifer had an RBI double, Egelston a run-scoring single and Walden a two-run single in the Red Devils’ four-run first. Walden — who torched Labette pitching with eight hits in 13 at bats over the weekend — added an RBI double in the third before scoring on Camdon Myers’ single for a 6-0 lead.
Foster doubled to lead off the seventh, where he scored on an error. Egelston followed with an RBI single.  Walden walked before Myers’ RBI double drove on Foster. Maruo’s sacrifice bunt scored Walden. A throwing error brought home Myers before Foster’s RBI single capped the rally.
Allen batters rapped out 16 hits. Foster and Egelston each had three hits, while Francis, Walden and Myers each had two. Ashmore, Kreifel, Austin Griffin and Maruo had one hit apiece.
Derek Pike, meanwhile, shut down Labette’s offense, allowing six hits over six innings with three walks and three strikeouts. Stauffer finished off his third straight game, allowing one hit over one inning with a strikeout.

THE GOOD fortune ran out in Saturday’s nightcap. Allen committed five errors, allowing nine unearned runs, in defeat.
A two-run error actually staked Allen to a quick 2-0 lead after half an inning, but an error, a walk and two hit batters allowed Labette to tie the score by the end of the first.
An error, wild pitch, walk and hit batter paved the way for Labette to take a 5-2 lead in the fifth.
Egelston tripled and scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to 5-3 before disaster struck.
Two more ACC errors in the bottom of the sixth led to the six-run Cardinal inning, capped by Luis Avarado’s three-run home run.
Walden singled and scored on Myer’s sac fly in the top of the eighth before Francis singled and scored on a ground ball in the ninth for ACC’s final run.
Kreifel took the loss, surrendering three hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked five and struck out four.
Geoffrey Borque gave up two hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning of relief. Logan Bausch pitched two scoreless innings, allowing just a single. Taylor Mah gave up a single and a walk in two-thirds of an inning.
Walden had three singles, while Egelston went 2-for-5 with a triple. Ashmore and Francis singled twice. Foster, Cole Slusser and Myers had one single apiece.

THE RED Devils host Butler County for a single game Wednesday before heading to Highland for a doubleheader Thursday to begin a four-game weekend series.