Dodge City Red Demons baseball looks to end streak

    The Dodge City Red Demons baseball team figured it would be near the middle of the pack when it came to regional time, but closing out the regular season with six straight losses pushed the team down to the No. 10 spot in the Class 6A regional seedings.
    “We only have ourselves to blame,” said Dodge City head coach John Neill. “We didn't get much of a break, but we didn't help ourselves either.”
    Now the Demons (6-14) have to travel to Haysville today to open their regional against the host Colts (16-4), co-champions of Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail League Division II. The first pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Carpenter Field.
    Neill said a combination of lack of depth and bad luck explained what happened at the end of the season.
    “We have six seniors (so) we're not too terribly young, but we're not too deep pitching wise,” Neill said. “We lost quite a few games where if things went the other way, we might have won those games. We're just needing the consistency of all three facets of the game.”
    Neill also said the consistency may be coming back for the Demons, and they may be turning the corner. That depends on whether the DCHS players worry about what they can do to help the team, and not about the name on the jersey on the other side.
    “We know Campus is a pretty good team, and we can't worry about them,” Neill said. “If we make all the routine plays on defense and battle when we're at the plate, then we should have a good chance of winning.”
    The Demons will have sophomore Ty Thomas as the starting pitcher against Campus. Despite being only a sophomore, Thomas does have experience in pitching in big games.
    “He pitched last year in the championship game against Goddard, and he did a good job against them,” Neill said. “I have no problem sending him out there.”
    A win by the Demons will push them to the regional championship game at 7 p.m., where they will play either Wichita North (16-4) — the Wichita City League champion — or Wichita East (6-13), who beat Dodge City in both games of a doubleheader earlier this month.