Allen Community College picked up Monday where it left off Sunday on the ball diamond — scoring early and often.
After outscoring Highland by a combined 29-11 to sweep the first two games of their series, the Red Devils were even more dominating on Monday, winning by scores of 11-0 and 24-0.
The four-game sweep gives ACC an eight-game winning streak and pushes the Red Devils to 9-3 on the season.
“We threw a lot of strikes, and our defense has always been good,” ACC head coach Clint Stoy said. “And our bats are catching up. We played complete baseball for four straight games, which is difficult to do at this level.”
The Red Devils rode the long ball to the Game 1 win, with Nathan Bach, Ayden Blachowicz and Kyle Carver going deep in the 11-hit onslaught. Bach added two more doubles and drove in three runs, while Josh Prinner had two hits and two RBIs.
Not that they needed much, with Josh Fluet on the mound.
Fluet pitched all six innings for Allen, striking out 10 while allowing only three hits and no walks.
His longest outing of his career prior to Monday was 3 1/3 innings, Stoy noted.
“He’s got really good stuff, but he’s had difficulty trying to pitch to contact,” Stoy said. “He’s starting to figure out he can last longer if he throws fewer pitches.”
But that romp was just a prologue to the nightcap, in which Allen scored 10 runs in the bottom of the first inning on only four hits.
Allen took full advantage of walks, errors and other misplays by the Scotties defense.
Prinner doubled twice in his 3-for-4 outing with three RBIs. Levi Bennett also singled and doubled, while Shaun Gomez Jr. and Fraai Roangeraud all added doubles in the 14-hit attack.
The pitching, courtesy of Patrick Babcock, Jackson Rains, Kade Douglas and Jack Neil was just as dominant. Babcock allowed one hit through four scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Rains, Douglas and Neil all pitched one inning of scoreless relief, combining for five strikeouts.
Red Devil batters worked 15 walks, four hit batters and six wild pitches in the outburst.
“They have not been outside” because of the weather, Stoy noted of Highland. “Neither have we. And when somebody makes a mistake at the college level, you have to make them pay for it. We did a very good job of doing that this weekend.”
If not for a late four-run rally in Sunday’s opener, Allen would have won all four games via shortened run-rule outings.
Even with that, Allen outscored the Scotties by a combined 64-11 over the four games.
Next up for Allen is a four-game set against Cowley, with two games at Ark City on Thursday and two home games Saturday.
“If we’re playing complete, selfless baseball, we match up with anybody in the country,” Stoy said.
