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Bats awaken as Griffons earn rare sweep
By Joe Warren
Nevada Daily Mail
NEVADA, Mo. -- A pair of home runs got the offense going as the Nevada Griffons toppled the Derby (Kan.) Twins, 10-3, Thursday night to sweep a Jayhawk League doubleheader at Lyons Stadium.
The Griffons won the first game 6-5, getting a pair of gritty pitching performances to go with the key longballs.
Will Feil hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning and Korby Mintken touched off a seven-run rally in the fifth with a solo shot to give the Griffons only their fourth doubleheader sweep in the John Hill III era.
"I didn't think that we would have any home runs tonight," Hill said of the playing conditions to start the game. "The air was thick and the wind was blowing in from left. I was afraid it was going to play like it does in Derby, taking away any home field advantage."
Fortunately for Hill, the wind died down and the two homers were hit with such authority that any park would have had trouble containing them.
The second game started with the Twins scoring two runs in the third on a double, error, wild pitch and ground out. Josh Gill doubled to lead off the inning, Kevin Ferriera reached on a throwing error by second baseman Mintken, and a wild pitch by starter Brent Lamaster scored Gill and moved Ferriera from first to third. A ground out by Cole Waddell plated Ferriera and Derby led 2-0.
The Griffons took the lead on one swing by Feil in the fourth inning. The Central Missouri product hit a bomb to left after a single by Nick Adams and a double by Greg Rodgers for a 3-2 lead.
"That's probably one of the farthest home runs I've ever hit," Feil said of his blast that soared over the trees beyond the fence. "He left one over the plate and I took advantage of it. I was just trying to get a run in with a fly ball to the outfield."
The next inning Mintken drilled a solo shot to right field to give Nevada a two-run cushion.
That's when the Griffons bats exploded.
Nevada used six singles and a walk to score six more runs in the fifth to take control.
Greg Lagreid and Kreed Kurtz each had two-run singles in the inning as the Griffons went up 10-2.
"Korby tacked right on," Hill said. "Any momentum chance they thought they had died at that point."
The Twins added a solo run in the seventh on an RBI single by Ferriera for the final tally of the game.
The offensive outburst supported starter Brent Lamaster (1-1), who pitched six innings allowing five hits and two runs (one earned) to pick up his first victory of the summer.
Lamaster struggled to get through the first three innings, but allowed only one hit in his final three frames.
The win gave the Griffons a sweep of a doubleheader for the first time this season in four twinbills. Nevada swept one of 10 doubleheaders in 2006 and two of 11 in 2005, Hill's first two years leading the club.
In the first game Nevada struck first as Jake Hoover was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two outs in the first inning, scoring Anthony Ottrando.
The Twins got the run right back and then some in the second as two errors led to three runs. Brent Voorhees singled and Mike Kaminski followed with a tailor-made double play ball to short that Griffon Tommy Fitzgerald couldn't handle and nobody was out on the play. Graham Martin doubled to score Voorhees to tie the game at one.
Chuck Opachich grounded to second but Andy Cotton misplayed it and Kaminski scored with still no outs recorded.
Brandon Douglas followed with a ground out to third, scoring another run to give Derby a 3-1 lead.
Starter Scott Limbocker pitched out of further trouble in the inning, but trailed despite giving up only one earned run.
Nevada struck back in their half, scoring four runs on three hits and a Derby error.
Fitzgerald walked to lead off, and with one out was moved to second on an infield single by Mintken.
Ottrando doubled, scoring Fitzgerald, and Nick Adams grounded to second but the ball went through Derby second baseman Martin's legs and Mintken scored without an out being made.
With runners on first and third with one out, Adams broke for second on a delayed steal, with his whole intention getting the runner home from third and the strategy worked. Ottrando broke for home when Adams got caught in a rundown, and the throw to the plate wasn't in time and both runners were safe.
Will Feil singled in Adams for the final run of the inning to give Nevada a 5-3 lead.
The Griffons added another in the third when they loaded the bases with nobody out. Adams hit a sacrifice fly to center but that was the only run Nevada could push across and they led 6-3.
Derby's Douglas hit a solo home run to left in the fifth off Limbocker, cutting the lead to two.
The Twins got a run in the top of the seventh to make things interesting, but Ryan Allen closed the door with the tying run at second base to give the Griffons the first game.
One major concern for Nevada was a combined seven errors in the two seven-inning games.
Hill said Lamaster and Limbocker did a good job to keep the Griffons in each game despite early rough spots and shoddy defense.
"Both guys struggled to find command early. They found a way to win even if they didn't have their best stuff."
Fitzgerald had three errors on the day, but Hill didn't seem too worried about his play.
"I've seen Tommy Fitzgerald play since he was in high school. He'll be all right," he said.
Nevada (11-4 overall, 6-4 in the Jayhawk League) improved to 3-1 against Derby (7-4, 5-3) this season.
The Griffons begin a three-game set with another league opponent today when the El Dorado Broncos visit at 7 p.m.
The two rivals play one game tonight and two tomorrow as part of Parent's Weekend for the Griffons.