After Tuesday's 11-7 win against Valley Center, Dodge City Athletics manager Jeremy Irlbeck said his team had to start playing baseball for nine innings in order to be competitive in the Jayhawk League.
Thursday night in a home matchup with the Liberal BeeJays, the A's did just that.
Dodge City faced a 4-0 deficit in the bottom of the fifth, but thanks to four perfect innings by relief pitcher Michael LaCourse, the A's rallied to win 5-4 to get above the .500 mark on the season and take their third Jayhawk win as well.
"Michael LaCourse is a big time pitcher," Irlbeck said. "He's a bulldog on the mound. He comes out, and if you're going to beat him, you're going to beat him with his stuff. He's not going to give you free stuff like free baserunners. I love his approach on the mound. I would love to play defense behind Mike LaCourse."
The Dodge City defense struggled early as A's starting pitcher Jermaine Barksdale walked Liberal right fielder Dylan Brown to start the game. Barksdale followed the walk with a wild pitch that advanced Brown to second.
Brown later scored to give the BeeJays an early one-run advantage.
In the top of the fourth with the score still 1-0 Liberal, BeeJay shortstop Bryce Baugh hit his second single of the night to score first baseman Alex Williams, who Barksdale plunked to lead off the inning. Catcher John Haines, Liberal's very next batter, tagged Barksdale for a two-run home run to right-center field to give the BeeJays a 4-0 lead.
Dodge third baseman Oscar Sigala, after already reaching safely in his first two at-bats of the game, answered Liberal's production at the plate with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth that cut the Beejay lead in half. The blast was Sigala's team-leading third of the season.
"His approach has gotten a lot better at the plate," Irlbeck said of Sigala. "He's doing a good job at keeping his hands inside the ball and letting the barrel work for him in the zone. Oscar's a kid that can use the whole field and anytime you can do that, you can be a good college hitter.
LaCourse entered the game in relief for Dodge in the sixth and retired the first three batters he faced. Then in the seventh, the Dallas Baptist University product retired the next three. LaCourse went on to face 12 Liberal batters and sat them all down.
"Halfway through the season last year at my college, I had a few bad outings in a row," LaCourse said. "And I had a sit-down talk with my coach and I just told myself that I was never going to throw another scared pitch again."
A's general manager Phil Stephenson said LaCourse has been a reliever all his life, and Irlbeck said he has no plans to make him a starter.
"We're going to keep him in the reliever right now," Irlbeck said. "He's doing a great job there. The biggest thing on why he can't start is endurance. This is only about the second time he's been this deep and I can't think of anyone I'd rather have right now to try to go slam the door with."
Dodge (6-5, 3-5 Jayhawk) tied the game in the seventh with a two-run single by first baseman Zach Atkins, and in the eighth the A's grabbed the lead and the win on a squeeze play with shortstop Derek Brooks at the plate and second baseman David Bustillos at third.
The A's still have three games left in their current four-game homestand, starting with one against the Wichita Titans today at 7 p.m.
Reach Keith Jenkins at (620) 408-9909 or e-mail him at keith.jenkins@dodgeglobe.com.
A's Box Score
Score By Innings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Liberal 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 4 5 2
Dodge City 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 1 X 5 8 0
Dodge City 5 (6-5, 3-5 Jayhawk League)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
CF Landon Anderson5 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 1
SS Derek Brooks 3 1 1 1 0 1 0 3 0
3B Oscar Sigala 3 1 2 2 1 0 1 1 1
RF Matt Kempin 1 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 2
LF Josh Wilson 3 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 2
1B Zach Atkins 4 0 2 2 0 0 10 1 2
C Phillip Rodriguez 4 0 0 0 0 0 11 2 1
DH Jenzen Torres 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1
PH Chris Winder 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2B David Bustillos 3 2 1 0 1 0 1 2 0
TOTALS 30 5 8 5 6 5 27 11 10
Liberal 4 (6-7, 4-5 Jayhawk)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
RF Dylan Brown 4 1 1 0 1 2 2 0 0
LF Alex Fuselier 4 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 2
CF Tanner Rindels 4 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 2
DH/P Mitch Caster 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
1B Alex Williams 3 1 0 0 0 2 7 1 0
3B Mike Greco 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 5 0
SS Bryce Baugh 3 1 2 1 1 0 1 2 0
C John Haines 3 1 1 2 1 2 6 1 0
2B Aaron Mees 3 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 2
TOTALS 31 4 5 4 6 12 24 10 7
E - Williams; Greco. LOB - BeeJays 7; A's 10. HR - Haines; Sigala(3). HBP - Williams. SH - Brooks 2(2); Sigala(3). SB - Fuselier; Baugh; Mees; Anderson(4); Sigala(3). WIN - LaCourse (2-0). LOSS - Collard. SV - None.
