Griffons drop series finale to last-place Elkhart

ELKHART, Kan. -- Missed opportunities spelled defeat for the Nevada Griffons. In the series finale against the Elkhart Dusters, the Griffons blew a couple of excellent scoring chances in a 6-3 loss on Tuesday night. The Griffons stranded eight runners, two in scoring position with one out in both the sixth and eighth innings. After a big offensive output on Monday night in which Nevada scored 27 runs and hammered 27 hits -- many in clutch situations -- in a doubleheader win over the Dusters, the Griffons' bats fell mostly silent last night. They had seven hits. The Griffons managed to win the series, 2-1, over the last-place Dusters but failed to make up ground on second-place El Dorado (Kan.) in their quest of a second-place Jayhawk League finish and a seeded entry into the NBC World Series. Nevada has already acquired an unseeded berth in the Series by virtue of winning the Champion Diamonds Open Qualifying Tournament earlier this month. Nevada (27-16, 12-14) trails El Dorado which has a 13-9 league record, pending last night's results against Hays. Hays has already clinched an automatic berth as Jayhawk League champions with a 20-5 mark. It was the Larks third straight title. Elkhart improved to 13-20, 7-16. The Griffons drew first blood on Brandon Green's RBI single in the first inning. The 1-0 score stood until the fourth when Elkhart plated three runs. Nevada got one back in the sixth on Green's second run batted in to score Kirk McConnell and narrow the gap to 3-2. But, as previously mentioned, were unable to inflict further damage with runners in scoring position. As usually happens when a team fails to capitalize, the Dusters came back with three runs in the bottom of the sixth to increase their lead to 6-2. A single run in the seventh on Josh Thomas' sacrifice fly cut the margin to 6-3, but, again, failed opportunities in the eighth cost the Griffons. Ty Hanson (3-2) took the loss, while Elkhart's Chase Medford picked up the win. Green went 2-for-4 with two RBIs to pace the Griffons' offense. Nevada concludes its Jayhawk League season in a three-game series against the Liberal BeeJays tonight, opening with a doubleheader at 6 p.m. The BeeJays and Topeka Capitals are tied for fourth place with 8-12 records.