One game to forget

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Griffons play tonight at 10

in losers' bracket game

after 6-1 loss in opener

WICHITA -- The first-round game for the Nevada Griffons at the National Baseball Congress World Series Monday was a forgettable one.

The Griffons, making their fourth straight World Series appearance and third in a row for third-year head coach John Hill III, could never get untracked against the Junction City Generals at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

Junction City clean-up hitter Rawley Bishop drove in three runs, including a sacrifice fly and a two-run single, to lead the Generals to a 6-1 victory.

"Really, what it came down to is that they got hits with runners in scoring position and we didn't," Hill said. "I think they had two hits with two out and runners in scoring position and we didn't get one hit all day with runners in scoring position."

Nevada falls into the losers' bracket. It plays Wichita's Midwest Wolverines at 10 tonight. The Wolverines lost to the Tulsa Cards on Monday, 9-4.

"All we can do is take the games one at a time, like we did at the end of the regular season," Hill said. "Hogie didn't have his best stuff."

Griffons left-hander Lance Hoge lasted three batters into the fifth inning and took the loss. He allowed four runs -- all earned -- on four hits and also walked four. The Kansas State pitcher recorded six strikeouts

A microcosm of the Griffons' fortunes came on a mammoth Walker Moore 400-foot home run that was disallowed, much to the chagrin of the Griffons. It turned out to be a momentum shifter for the Generals, who owned a 1-0 lead at the time, and changed the complexion for the Griffons.

Moore, a red-shirt freshman from the University of Arizona, hit an apparent one-out, solo homer which sailed above the foul pole in left field, but was ruled foul. Moore had already rounded second base when he was motioned back to home plate.

"I didn't stop and look," Moore said. "I knew it was gone. I just started running and the way the field is set up, it went way over the pole, so it looked like it was fair, but when it got past the pole it went foul.

"It was so high over the pole that it was too hard to tell. It kind of killed the at-bat a little bit. We just didn't get it going and didn't get the key hits like they did."

There was no question, according to Hill, that Moore's towering drive cleared the foul pole in fair territory.

"Very fair," Hill said. "It wasn't even close. It wasn't a difficult call. It changes the whole game right there because we jumped right back and answered their run and then we're at the top of the lineup and you never know what happens.

"It didn't allow us to get any momentum and kind of slowed us down and we never recovered."

After returning to the plate, Moore grounded out to third, as the Griffons went 1-2-3 in the inning.

The Griffons finally got to Ben Percival, out of Western Illinois, in the fourth. Kentucky third baseman Anthony Ottrando lifted a sacrifice fly to right, with South Dakota State's Nick Adams sliding safely under a high throw to the plate.

To be sure, the Griffons didn't have their game clicking on all cylinders. They were only out-hit, 9-7, but failed to come up with a big inning.

"In my personal opinion, I don't think we hit bad," said Griffons shortstop Tommy Fitzgerald of Bradley, who was 1-for-4, as seven different players in the lineup had a hit. "Our hits were really spread out, so we couldn't ever get anything going. That happens sometimes.

"Numerous guys hit balls right at them, and they robbed Ottrando in left field (on a diving one-handed catch by Ozzie Troconis). We all knew (Moore's drive) went out fair. We would have been right in it."

Junction City went ahead 4-1 in the fifth on Bishop's two-run single and Austin Graham's sacrifice fly to left.

The Generals' A.J.. Shintler singled to start the fifth and moved to second on Troconis' bunt single. Rob Vaughn's attempted sacrifice bunt was fielded by first baseman Moore, who threw to third, although Shintler was safe. Bishop followed with his base hit and after an out was recorded, Graham's sacrifice fly gave Junction City its three-run lead.

Sacrifice flies from each team were responsible for the first two runs being scored.

Nevada tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the fourth on Ottrando's flyout to right field. Adams led off the inning by doubling down the right-field line and Washington State's Greg Lagreid followed with a single to short left field, putting runners at the corners. Ottrando lofted a fly ball to shallow right, with Generals right fielder Paul McCoy making a sliding catch and Adams tagging up and beating the throw to the plate on a slide.

Shintler and Vaughn sandwiched a Troconis strikeout with singles to start the game, putting runners on first and third. Bishop, the Generals' No. 4 hitter, lifted a sacrifice fly to medium-depth right field to drive in Shintler to make it 1-0.

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