Independence adds to Allen Red Devil misery

Forgive Val McLean if he heads to the pharmacy for mass quantities of antivenom in the near future.
His Allen Community College Red Devils have been plenty snake-bit on the diamond this week.
One day after losing a gut-wrenching 7-5 decision to Butler, the Red Devils returned home Thursday for a doubleheader against Independence. The visiting Pirates battered Allen pitching to the tune of 12-3 and 22-11.
The losses keep Allen winless in Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division play at 0-14. The Red Devils are 5-19 overall.
“We have to regroup,” McLean said. “Wednesday’s loss was a heartbreaker, and in our second game Thursday we walked 11 guys and had five or six errors. You can’t be successful playing that way.”
Wednesday’s loss may have been the most painful of them all.
Starter Chase Cunningham was working on a no-hitter through 7 1/3 innings, with ACC on top 5-0, when it fell apart in a hurry.
Butler’s Logan Beard grounded a one-out single up the middle to break up the no-hitter. An infield single followed, prompting McLean to call on Logan Bausch for relief.
Allen’s relieving corps couldn’t stop the bleeding.
A walk, double and passed ball cut Allen’s lead to 5-3 before two more walks loaded the bases with two out. A fielding error by Allen’s Camron Myers allowed two runs to score and tie the game. Michael Bird, who opened the inning with a ground-out, broke the tie with a frozen rope to center.
Allen got a two-out walk in the top of the ninth but a ground ball ended the game.
Two Butler errors staked the Red Devils to a 2-0 lead. Kyle Foster had an RBI single and Drew Walden smacked a sacrifice fly for the second run.
Kyle Foster tripled to lead off the top of the eighth, and scored on Austin Griffin’s RBI single. Trever Kreifel scored on a wild pitch. Camdon Myers pushed the lead to 5-0 with an RBI single.
Foster went 3-for-4 with a triple, while Sean Maruo had a pair of singles. Trey Francis, Griffin and Myers also singled.
Cunningham allowed two hits and three walks in 7 1/3 innings with five strikeouts. Bausch surrendered a hit and two walks, while Chris McPherson gave up a hit and walk in his relief stint.

JOHN PROHASKA looked to give Allen a lift in his start in Thursday’s opener. He delivered in dominating fashion, striking out 11 in five innings and allowed just two hits, but exited trailing 1-0.
Butler tacked on two in the top of the sixth to lead 3-0 before Drew Walden closed the gap with a wind-aided two-run home run. The wind didn’t add to distance, which was well clear of the left field fence. Rather, it pushed the hooking foul ball just into fair territory as it passed the foul pole.
Myers followed Walden’s blast with a double, still with nobody out, but a strikeout, a liner and Levi Ashmore’s grounder to third — he was out a cat’s whisker — to end the threat.
Butler broke the game open with nine runs in the top of the seventh against a pair of Allen relievers.

THE GRIZZLIES’ bats staying alive in game 2. They scored in every inning but the seventh.
Butler led 7-0 before Chase Egelston’s grand slam in the third pulled Allen to within 7-5.
But Independence responded with five in the top of the fourth, one in the fifth, and five in the sixth to put the last nail in the Devils’ coffin.
The Grizzlies racked up 17 hits and were issued 11 walks, while the Red Devils committed six errors.
Stats from Thursday were incomplete — scoring plays from Allen’s two-run ninth inning were unavailable — but we know Francis had three singles, while Egelston homered, Griffin had a triple and Cole Slusser and Maruo each doubled. Ashmore added a single.
The Red Devils return to action today with a doubleheader at Independence.