Greyhounds shake off rust, sweep Cardinals

Fort Scott Community College's baseball team got a brief sip of home cooking Wednesday afternoon as the Greyhounds swept Labette by 5-4 and 11-1 scores in a Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division doubleheader at Lions Field.

The Greyhounds were only home because FSCC and Labette agreed to switch home dates after Tuesday's rain. Otherwise, these games would have been played at Parsons Tuesday during the middle of what was originally scheduled to be 10 straight doubleheaders on the road.

And with rain pushing a scheduled conference twinbill at Cowley from last Friday to this coming Sunday, the Greyhounds, 7-1 in the East and 18-7 overall, hadn't played since the end of their spring break trip to Arizona on March 20.

The losses were the 12th and 13th in a row for Labette, 0-12, 6-16. The Cardinals were 6-3 going into the last game of their spring break trip 2 1/2 weeks ago.

There was a wee bit of rust in the first game, at least as far as the offense goes. But Fort Scott's pitching and defense did the job until the 'Hounds scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fifth inning.

"We hadn't played a game in eight days and in the first game, we were a little rusty," Fort Scott head coach Chris Moddelmog said. "We found a way to win. Kind of ugly, but that's baseball. Second game, we got going a little bit, got the bats rolling."

Good outings by Fort Scott's pitchers were key as this twinbill was the first of four the Greyhounds will play over a five-day stretch.

Left-handed freshman Jeff Rydman, 2-1, allowed three earned runs on five hits and one walk while striking out six in the first five innings of the opener. Eldon Little allowed one hit while striking out two in the final two innings to earn his third save of the season.

Labette scored first in the top of the second inning. But Fort Scott needed only two hits to take the lead in the bottom of the frame. Clay Cuno led off with a double to center. He moved to third on a groundout and Kenny Maus drew a walk.

Tommy Fitzgerald kept the inning going by drawing a two-out walk to load the bases. Brandon Lessnau delivered two runs when he singled to right although he was thrown out at second while trying to advance on the throw home to end the inning.

Labette took a 3-2 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the third. The 'Hounds tied it in the bottom half when Lawson Hipps doubled off the right-field wall, stole second and scored when the throw sailed into left field.

The Cardinals went ahead in the top of the fourth. But Fort Scott scrapped back in the fifth.

Trevor Geist singled to left with one out and stole second. Cuno reached base when Labette couldn't make a play on his grounder.

Geist tied the score when he moved up on a passed ball. Cuno was able to advance to third on that play. Tyler Cox drew a walk and then a pickoff throw that went wild and allowed Cuno to score what held up as the game-winning run.

Fitzgerald was the only Greyhound with two hits in the opener.

Fort Scott controlled the second game from the start with Cuno belting a two-run home run against the wind in the bottom of the first.

The 'Hounds needed only two hits to score four in the second. Fitzgerald's homer scored two of Fort Scott's four runs in the fourth. He also drove in Dusty Hess with the run in the bottom of the fifth that forced the 10-run rule to take effect.

"We got some big hits," Moddelmog said. "Earlier in the year, we weren't run-ruling people when we had our chance. We just saved two innings of pitching."

Dan Huff, 2-0, allowed six hits and didn't walk a batter while striking out three as he pitched all five innings.

"We got great pitching again," Moddelmog said. "(Rydman and Huff) kept their pitch counts down, which was good because we're going to have to use them again on Sunday."

Cox had three hits for the Greyhounds in game two. Hipps and Fitzgerald each had two. Fitzgerald drove in four runs.

The Greyhounds go to Overland Park this afternoon to play Johnson County in a conference doubleheader. They have Friday off then head to Highland for another conference twinbill Saturday. From Highland, they'll get on the bus and take a 250-plus-mile trip to Arkansas City so they can play Cowley in a make-up doubleheader Sunday.

"We've got a big week and it was nice to get a couple of home games in this big roadstand," Moddelmog said. "Hopefully, we get some more good pitching and swing the bat. (Johnson County is) a great place to hit. And then we hope the rain will hold off and we can get these in this weekend. Welcome to spring baseball in Kansas, I guess."

Thursday's forecast for Overland Park does call for rain as does Saturday's at Highland. But Sunday's forecast for Arkansas City calls for Sunny skies.