Delgado run-rules Johnson County for second straight JUCO World Series win

GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado – The Delgado Dolphins baseball team made history Monday afternoon.

For the first time in program history, the Dolphins have won two games at the NJCAA World Series following an emphatic 14-4 run-rule win over the No. 2 ranked Johnson County Cavaliers in an elimination game at Suplizio Field.

“As far as Delgado goes, I don’t think we’ve had a better (win),” said head coach Joe Scheuermann. “We are swinging it. We are swinging it one through nine. Hitting is contagious. We are starting to show why we are here. We can swing the bat and we can pitch a little bit. The kids are starting to believe.”

After taking out the tournament’s second seed on Monday, the Dolphins will now face top-seeded Central Florida, a 14-6 loser in seven innings to Weatherford (Texas) Monday night, in another elimination game Tuesday at 3 p.m. (CT).

Delgado has 34 runs and 46 hits in its three World Series games. The Dolphins have 14 extra base hits, including eight doubles, one triple and five home runs.

Delgado (47-12) also tied the single-season school record with its 47th win. The Dolphins also won 47 games in 2013.

Delgado had only one win in Grand Junction in its previous five trips.

“That’s big for us,” Scheuermann said. “Back home we get ripped a little bit because the LSU fans of America if LSU goes to Omaha and doesn’t win the World Series it’s a bad year. People don’t understand how hard it is to get to Omaha. If it’s hard to get to Omaha, try to get to Grand Junction. It’s hard to win up here.”

Delgado center fielder Bryan Broussard finished with four hits, including two home runs, to lead the Dolphins 16-hit attack. Broussard went 4-for-4 with three runs scored, one triple, two home runs and four RBIs. He was a double shy of the cycle.

He led off the game with a triple to dead center field that jump-started a four-run first inning.

After the triple, Josh Alexander followed with a ground out to put the Dolphins on the board. J.T. Singletary reached on an error and Brock Slaton followed with a double to left field to put runners on second and third. Logan O’Neill extended the lead to 3-0 with a two-run single to right. Jhonnatan Ferrebus singled to put runners on the corner’s and Tyler Cook’s sacrifice fly to right scored O’Neill.

Johnson County (56-10) got a three-run home run from Rhett Hendricks to cut the lead to 4-3 in the second inning. The Dolphins failed to turn a double play in the inning, which led to the three-run homer.

The Cavaliers tied the game in the fourth inning on Shea McGahan hit a solo home run to right-center field.

Delgado answered in three runs in the bottom of the inning to go ahead for good, keyed by Broussard’s one-out, solo home run to put the Dolphins ahead to stay.

“We swing the bat,” Broussard said. “Over the last three days, I think we’ve had 10 hits each game. We swing it. We might swing at some bad balls, but we swing it.”

After the home run, Alexander was hit by a pitch and Singletary, Slaton and O’Neill had back-to-back-to-back hits to push the lead to 7-4.

Delgado scored seven runs to end the game in the fifth inning. Broussard ripped a three-run home run to right-center to make it 10-4. The final runs came on an RBI single by Slaton, a sacrifice fly by Ferrebus and a two-run single by Cook.

Turmer Toms (6-0) had the complete-game, five-inning win for the Dolphins. He gave up four runs and five hits and struck out six.

Ty Blecha (9-4) took the loss for the Cavaliers. He was touched for seven runs and 10 hits in three-plus innings.