by TAYLOR ELDRIDGE
8:15 P.M. — Still 6-5. This game reaching its fifth hour. Or so it seems…Top of 9th.
7:54 P.M. — Up here talking to a guy from Alaska. That’s exciting. It sounds like a fun place to live. Except the six months of darkness. But he is making it sound good. I’m thinking about it. Oh yeah, it’s still 6-5. Top of the 8th. Slowly crawling its way to a finish.
7:32 P.M. — A stir in the crowd awoken me, just in time to look up and see a Cornejo player smash a home run that easily cleared the 385-foot fence in left field. Probably the longest shot in the tournament. It’s 6-5 Cornejo now. Oh, the drama!
7:16 P.M. — Pitching change for Cornejo. Zzz. Just looked, all three games so far have lasted at least 2 and a half hours. That’s not good. Score update: Hays 5, Cornejo 3. Bottom 4th.
6:51 P.M. — Hays laying it on now. Four runs in the third inning and they have taken a 5-3 lead. Still only one out.
6:43 P.M. — Hays Larks and Cornejo Oaks are playing now in a game that I just can’t get into. Maybe because it’s I’m writing. Maybe because it’s a boring game. Or maybe because no Kansas players are playing. But anyway the Oaks are covering the Larks 3-2 in the top of the third inning. The crowd is pretty good for a game like this.
5:38 P.M. — Baseball Around the Clock’ers are starting to file into Lawrence Dumont. I’m doing a feature for the Eagle on the fans doing it, so I’m looking forward to the interaction tonight at 3 in the morning. Can’t wait.
5:07 P.M. — Derby Twins down to their last out. It’s 13-8 in the top of the 9th inning. Not looking good for the Twins. They’ll have to work out of the loser’s bracket. More to come later. Got to get some interviews.
4:49 P.M. — It’s kind of depressing to think only three innings have past since I last updated. I’ve done so much during that time and the game…has not. Derby drew within 9-8 going into the bottom-half of the 7th inning. Then gave up four runs and are now trailing 12-8 entering the eighth inning. Lonnnnnnnngggggg game.
3:36 P.M. — In the third game of the day, the Derby Twins are struggling right now. Derby has committed one error, but have plenty of bobbles and could-be outs already in the game’s first four innings. Their opponent, the Gunnison (Co.) Colts, have taken advantage. Four runs in the bottom of the second inning opened up the game and then three runs in the bottom of the fourth have given the Colts a 7-3 lead. Still plenty of ball game left though.
3:22 P.M. — Time to bring you up to speed on what all has been going on so far in the NBC Tournament.
In the early game of the day, the Sedalia (Mo.) Bombers handed the Wichita Sluggers their first loss of the tournament, 10-8. The Sluggers fell behind 8-1 entering the seventh inning, then rallied to score five runs the next two innings. Wichita added two more runs in the top of the ninth, but the rally was killed when Nick Cocking was called out on interference to end the game on a double play.
For the Wichita State fans: Cody Lassley batted DH and went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and a RBI. Ryan Engrav started right field and hit 3-for-5 with two ribbies and a run scored. Ex-Shocker Andy Womack came on in relief to pitch 1.1 innings, allowing one earned run.
Sedalia hero’s: SS Travis McComack (2-4, 1 R, 2 RBI); 2B T.S. Reed (2-3, 1 R, 1 RBI); SP Zach Hardin (W, 6 IP, 1 ER, 5 K, 2 BB).
Wichita hero’s: CF Nick Cocking (4-5, 2 R); RF Ryan Engrav (3-5, 1 R, 2 RBI); 2B John Bonebrake (3-5, 1 R).
In what will probably be my feature story, the Valley Center Diamond Dawgs pulled off a thrilling 6-5 come-from-behind victory over the Chillicothe Mudcats to advance in the winner’s bracket. The DD’s were trailing 5-0 entering the eighth inning. They scored two in the 8th and then down to their last out and last strike in the top of the 9th, Chillicothe reliever Scott Limbocker missed his target and let a slider get away from him that got past the catcher’s mitt and scored the tying run from third. He then walked the hitter and a single to right from Tyler Metcalf drove in the winning run.
The win, of course, didn’t come without some drama in the bottom of the inning. Darian Sanford singled with one out and then stole second and third base with one out still. But Jordan Strode struck out the next two hitters swinging. Dramatic.
Valley Center studs: DH Tyler Metcalf (2-5, 2 RBI); LF Lioney Henriquez (1-3, 2 R, 2 RBI); RP Jordan Strode (SV, 1 IP, 0 ER, 2 K).
Chillicothe studs: C Jason Dennis (2-4, 1 R, 3 RBI); DH Justin Shults (2-3, 1 RBI); SP Mike Mariot (7 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 6 K, 1 BB).