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Both coaches tossed; El Dorado shuts down Griffons
By Joe Warren
Nevada Daily Mail
NEVADA, Mo. -- "You're outta here!"
That's the phrase heard by both head coaches and a parade of Griffon batters during the El Dorado Broncos' 6-1 win over the Nevada Griffons in Jayhawk League play Wednesday at Lyons Stadium.
The Griffons struck out looking five times in the game, eventually prompting head coach John Hill III to question the strike zone after the seventh inning and leading to his ejection from the game.
"That's what the conversation was about, is strike zone," Hill said.
El Dorado starter Rob Musgrave dominated, retiring 21 of the first 22 batters he faced before settling for eight shutout innings. Musgrave allowed only three hits and no walks, striking out seven.
Hill said his hitters just didn't adjust to the umpire.
"These guys need to do a better job of recognizing that the strike zone was expanding for us and getting smaller for them," he said.
The Griffons got off to their usual start, falling behind the Broncos early.
El Dorado scored a pair in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead as Jordan Nipp doubled off the top of the fence in left and Josh Morrison followed with a bomb that easily cleared the fence in left center off starter Connor Lambert.
The Broncos scored again in the fourth as a leadoff error on first baseman Walker Moore allowed Mike Garcia to reach.
El Dorado would load the bases with one out, scoring their third run of the game on a single to shallow left by Jat Pitschka.
But that's all the Broncos would manage in the inning. A squeeze attempt failed as Kyle Riffel bunted down the third base line, but Jimmy Dever scooped the ball with his glove and flipped it to catcher Daniel Dellasega in one motion for the second out of the inning, then Harrison Drieling lined out to left to end the frame.
Meanwhile El Dorado cruised as Musgrave retired the first 14 batters he faced until Dever singled up the middle with two outs in the fifth inning.
Dever's hit wasn't exactly an opening of the floodgates as Musgrave continued to mow down Griffon batters. The lefty followed the single in the fifth inning by settling back in and retiring the next seven hitters in succession.
Nevada had their best chance at scoring off Musgrave in the eighth inning but a baserunning guffaw by Walker Moore helped keep the shutout in play.
Moore singled leading off the eighth, but on a routine fielder's choice by Dever the ball squirted out of El Dorado second baseman Al Barbato's glove for an error. Moore didn't see the ball come out and assumed he was out at second, walking away from the bag and toward the dugout. Barbato alertly tagged Moore to officially put him out, accounting for the first out of the inning.
After Greg Sillivent struck out, Jake Hoover singled and Andy Cotton was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Ryan Tokarz grounded out to third to end the threat, and El Dorado put the game away in the ninth.
The Broncos scored three runs on four hits and two walks off reliever Cort Payne to make it a 6-0 game in the top of the ninth, and a single run in the bottom half wasn't enough for Nevada.
Nick Adams doubled with one out, then scored on a single by Moore for the only Griffons run.
Broncos head coach Steve Johnson was also thrown out of the game, arguing after a ball hit off the hand of El Dorado's Jay Pitschka in the eighth inning.
The play was called a foul ball and Johnson begged to differ, eventually earning an ejection with an earful for the home plate umpire.
The win moved El Dorado 19-13 overall, 16-13 in the Jayhawk League, ahead of Nevada (21-13, 14-12) for third place in the league standings.
The third position in the league is key, because it will likely earn an automatic bid to the NBC World Series in August, since league-leading Derby already has a spot by virtue of finishing as the Series runner up in 2006.
The Jayhawk League gets two automatic bids to the Series.
The Griffons host those Derby Twins in a doubleheader today. The teams play two seven-inning games at Lyons Stadium with a start time scheduled for 6 p.m.