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Griffons rained out in Derby, beat Wheat Kings
By Joe Warren
Nevada Daily Mail
What was supposed to be four games in three days turned into one game, a cancellation and a pair of postponements.
The Nevada Griffons beat the Wichita Wheat Kings at Lyons Stadium Saturday, then had their road date with the Wheat Kings canceled Sunday and their Jayhawk League doubleheader with the Derby Twins rained out Monday.
The Griffons toppled the overmatched Wheat Kings Saturday, 8-1, behind a strong effort on the mound from starter Lance Hoge and three RBIs from Daniel Dellasega.
Nevada scored six runs in the third inning to blow the game open, and Hoge allowed only four hits in six innings, striking out five and walking one in his Griffons debut.
"He threw six innings on only 76 pitches," Nevada pitching coach Craig Frydendall said after the game. "We haven't had that from the guys we've had here."
Hoge recently joined the club after taking June off following a regular season that saw him throw nearly 100 innings as the ace at Cowley County (Kan.) Community College.
The Kansas State-bound left hander worked quickly through the Wichita lineup, throwing 11 pitches or fewer in four of the six innings he pitched.
The only run Wichita scored came after a leadoff triple in the fourth, which was followed by a strike out, Hoge's only walk allowed, and a fielder's choice.
By then the game was out of reach, with Nevada up 7-1.
The Griffons scored a single run in the second when Anthony Ottrando walked with two outs.
Greg Sillivent followed with a single and Dellasega drove Ottrando in with a single of his own for a 1-0 lead.
In the third inning Nick Adams was hit by a pitch leading off.
Adams stole second and went to third on a single by Tommy Fitzgerald.
Greg Lagreid scored Adams with a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.
After Brad Secrist struck out, Walker Moore was hit by a pitch.
Ottrando reached on an error by third baseman Curtis Gibson, loading the bases.
Sillivent walked, scoring Fitzgerald for a 3-0 lead.
Dellasega singled, scoring Moore and Ottrando to put the Griffons up by five.
Travis Sheets singled, scoring Sillivent, then got in a run down between first and second, allowing Dellasega to score before being tagged out to end the inning with the Griffons up 7-0.
After Wichita scored in the fourth to make it 7-1, the Griffons got the run back in the fifth on a double by Moore, a groundout by Ottrando that moved Moore to third, and a sacrifice fly by Sillivent.
Frydendall, who teamed with hitting coach Mickey Nichol to lead the club while head coach John Hill III was in a wedding, was happy to see the final run scored, with Ottrando and Sillivent doing whatever was necessary to get the runner in.
"I liked that we're still being unselfish and we're getting a guy in, even though we might be winning by a lot," Frydendall said.
The Griffons (21-10) were supposed to visit the Wheat Kings (16-9) in a one game home-and-home series Sunday, but the game was canceled because Wichita didn't have enough healthy players.
The game won't be made up because Wichita is a non-league opponent, who plays in the Walter Johnson League.
Monday the Griffons were supposed to visit Derby (Kan.) in a league doubleheader, but it was rained out during the fourth inning of the first game. As is policy in the Jayhawk League this season, the game will be restarted from the beginning.
A makeup date with Derby has not been announced yet.
Nevada is scheduled to play at El Dorado (Kan.) today, with a single nine-inning game beginning at 7 p.m.
The Griffons begin a seven-game homestand Wednesday, with a single game against El Dorado, before hosting Derby and Liberal (Kan.) over the following four days.
Notes: Moore and Sheets are new arrivals to the Griffons. Sheets is an infielder from Labette County (Kan.) Community College, while Moore was with the Liberal BeeJays until recently released by the team because of an off-field incident. Sheets takes the roster spot previously set aside for Brandon Richey, who was drafted and never made it to Nevada, while Moore replaced Greg Rodgers, who left the team reportedly because he "didn't want to play every day." ... Moore plays college ball at the University of Arizona. ... Hoge had a record of 11-3 this spring with a 2.03 ERA with Cowley County. He struck out 97 in 93 innings this spring.