Clint Stoy arrived at the ballpark early Saturday, when it dawned on him.
“I got up here about 9 o’clock, and I really didn’t have anything to do,” he laughed.
For the first time this season, there was no scurrying to make sure players were ready to board the team bus for an extended road trip.
Nearly three months to the day from when the 2021 Allen Community College baseball season started, the Red Devils got their first home game Saturday.
Alec Roberts sent the ACC supporters home happy with a grand slam home run, enough to propel the Red Devils to a run-rule 17-4 romp over Kansas City Kansas.
The victory also gave a bit of salve to the opener, in which Allen bounced back from an early five-run deficit, only to have things fall apart in the top of the last inning in a 10-5 defeat.
Saturday’s split comes at the onset of Allen’s final week of the regular season.
The Red Devils will host Labette for two games on Tuesday, then Highland on Thursday before traveling to Highland on Saturday to wrap up regular season play.
“We’ve just gotta keep swinging the bats and hopefully get on a roll.”
Roberts’s grand slam capped a blistering series for the Alexandria, Va., native, who pummeled KCK pitching for 11 hits in 16 at bats in the four-game series, with three home runs, three doubles and 14 RBIs.
At the other end of the spectrum, Allen’s starting pitchers struggled against Kansas City’s offense in the first three games, allowing a combined 15 earned runs over 5 2/3 innings.
“We had bad starts the first three games, and the scoreboard was indicative of that,” Stoy said.
Allen’s Slade Renfrow stepped up in Saturday’s finale, pitching all seven innings, allowing six hits with six strikeouts.
“We got a good game from Renfrow,” Stoy said. “He shut down a team that had been hitting pretty well.”
Roberts wasn’t the only hitting star.
Levi Bennett doubled twice and drove in five in his 3-for-4 day, while Jonah Weisner had four singles and three runs in four at bats.
