HIGHLAND — Allen Community College’s bats came to life in a big way Thursday.
The Red Devils pounded out 18 hits in their most lopsided victory of the season, a 21-4 romp over host Highland.
The second game salvaged a doubleheader split for the Red Devils, who walked six Scottie batters and hit six others in a 7-5 defeat.
“Playing at Highland is awfully hard,” Red Devil head coach. “To get a split up there means you’re doing something good. But if we take away those walks and hit batters, we would have gotten a sweep. Now we really need a sweep (today) if we want to think about the playoffs.”
Allen took game 2 by scoring in every inning but the fifth, and ended the game with a seven-run seventh. Drew Walden and Austin Griffin hit back-to-back doubles to stake ACC to a 3-0 lead. Levi Ashmore singled in Cole Slusser to push the lead to 4-1 in the second.
Slusser’s two-run single in the third increased the lead to 6-1. Highland scored twice in its half to cut the deficit to 6-3 before Walden smacked a two-run homer in the top of the fourth. Slusser and Sean Maruo followed with RBI singles for an 11-3 advantage.
The action hit high gear in the top of the sixth. Maruo delivered another RBI single before Trey Francis drove in a run with a single. An error sent Maruo home.
Slusser and Levi Ashmore had RBI singles, Francis walked with the bases loaded and Foster cleared the bases with a double. Kreifel doubled in Foster for the final tally.
Every Allen starter had at least one hit and one run scored.
Walden went 3-for-6 and was a triple short of hitting for the cycle. Kreifel doubled twice in his three hits. Slusser had three singles. Foster had two hits, including a double. Maruo and Ashmore singled twice. Griffin had a double. Francis and Camdon Myers had singles.
Derek Pike was the beneficiary on the mound, although he didn’t need that much help. He gave up five hits and three walks with nine strikeouts in his seven-inning complete game.
HIGHLAND broke open a 4-3 lead with three in the bottom of the fifth of the opener.
Foster closed the deficit to 7-5 with a two-out, two-run double in the top of the seventh, but Highland starter Justin Paul ended the game with his ninth strikeout.
Walden’s single scored Ashmore and Francis to give ACC a 2-0 lead in the top of the first before Highland sliced the lead in half with a run of its own in the first.
Maruo singled and scored in the second to increase Allen’s lead to 3-1. A walk and hit batter paved the way for the Scotties’ three-run second to give Highland the 4-3 lead.
John Prohaska took the loss, giving up five hits and three walks in four innings. He hit three batters. Keil Stauffer pitched two innings. He gave up one hit and three walks. He also hit three batters.
