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Greyhounds conquer Dodge City in tourney
By Scott Nuzum
Herald-Tribune
WICHITA, Kan. -- Fort Scott Community College held off a rally from Dodge City to take an 8-7 victory in the Region VI Tournament quarterfinals at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium Friday evening.
The Greyhounds advanced to a Saturday night meeting with the winner of the late Neosho County-Butler game, which was set to begin at 7 p.m. If Fort Scott lost that game, it would play in a losers' bracket game Sunday at 10 a.m. If they won, the 'Hounds would play in the winners' bracket final Sunday at 4 p.m.
The Greyhounds, 34-23, led 8-1 after four innings only to see the Conquistadors fight back and get within one run after eight.
"Survive and advance," Fort Scott head coach Chris Moddelmog said. "I guess that's our motto. Three weeks ago, we don't win that game; we find a way to lose it. Our kids hung in there."
Dodge City, the only team here with a losing record and now 21-35, scored first, a lone run in the bottom of the first inning. Fort Scott came back to score all its runs over the next three innings.
The Greyhounds scored two in the top of the second inning. Tyler Cox led off the inning with a double to left. Tommy Fitzgerald followed with a single in front of the diving left fielder. Kenny Maus' groundout to first plated Cox. Fitzgerald moved to third on a fly-ball out and scored on a wild pitch.
Fort Scott put up another run in the third. Trevor Geist was hit by a pitch with one out, stole second and scored on Cox's single.
The fourth inning was big not only because the Greyhounds scored five runs but in that they needed every one of them in the end.
Zach Caldwell singled to right with one out to start things off.
Brandon Lessnau followed up with a ground-ball single and Brandt Barnes drew a walk to load the bases.
Geist was hit by a pitch for the second time, forcing in Caldwell. Clay Cuno singled to right to score Lessnau. Hipps was hit by another pitch -- the first one from new pitcher Cody Schweninger -- which forced Barnes home.
Cox drew a walk to bring Geist in. Fitzgerald struck out but strike three went by the catcher and Cuno hustled home with the final run of the inning.
That inning -- five runs on three hits, two walks and two hit batters -- put the Greyhounds ahead 8-1.
"We had a great approach early in the game, offensively," Moddelmog said. "We showed up ready to play. We jumped on them and we were talking about run-ruling them. They brought in the soft-tossing lefty (Schweninger) and we kind of stalled. Hopefully, nobody else in the tournament has one of those." The Conqs began their comeback with two runs in the fifth off Jeff Rydman, 9-1, to get within 8-3. Then another Dodge run went up in the seventh.
Meanwhile the Greyhound offense struggled. After scoring all those runs on seven hits in the first four innings, they had only three hits the rest of the game.
"They threw in probably the slowest left-handed pitcher we're ever going to see," Moddelmog said. "But you have to give that kid credit.
"He did a great job and held us. We hung in and kept battling."
The Dodge City eighth was when it got scary. The Conqs' first two runners got hits and Moddelmog decided he'd better bring in his left-handed closer, Eldon Little.
But it didn't go that well for Little. Although he got the first batter he faced to fly out, the next one reached on an error. A couple of hits later, Dodge was within 8-7 and the bases were loaded.
Little, however, struck out Jake Bedoka to end the inning.
"Jeff Rydman and Eldon Little did a great job on the mound," Moddelmog said. "We played some defense and found a way to get out with a win."
Jackson Salzman drew a one-out walk and stole second in the ninth for Dodge. But Little struck out Mark Taylor for the second out and got Brian Axtell to ground to short to end the game.
Fort Scott had 10 hits, two each by Cox, Fitzgerald and Caldwell. Cuno had only one hit but was hit by pitches twice. In all, five Greyhounds were hit by pitches.
Matt Meyer went 4-for-5 for Dodge City. Michael Funke and Brian Axtell each went 2-for-4.
Rydman allowed six runs -- two earned -- in 7-plus innings on 11 hits and one walk. He struck out five. Little allowed one unearned run on two hits and two walks with two K's.
Schweniger pitched 4 2/3 innings for Dodge, allowing no runs on three hits and two walks. He struck out six 'Hounds. Derek Keith was the losing pitcher after allowing the eight runs on seven hits and two walks in the first 3 1/3 innings.
This is the first win in the Greyhounds' first appearance in this portion of the post-season since Region VI switched to this format four years ago. But the 'Hounds aren't content with just making that little bit of school history.
"Our kids came here to win," Moddelmog said. "They came here to win the tournament and see what happens. We didn't come to just show up."