Double Play, Offensive Response Sends Delgado to World Series

Delgado Community College’s baseball team wasn’t about to let itself fall one win short of the Junior College World Series again.

A six-out sequence in the third and fourth innings turned Sunday’s South Central District championship game in the Dolphins’ favor as Delgado advanced to its first JUCO World Series since 2007 with a 7-6 victory over Seminole State (Oklahoma) College Sunday in Neosho, Missouri.

Trailing Seminole 4-2 in the bottom of the third inning, the Dolphins’ fortunes turned on a dime. Or perhaps more accurately, turned on the turning of a double play.

Reliever Jonathan Ebersole induced a double-play grounder after Seminole had opened the inning with five consecutive singles. After a hit batter, a flyout ended the inning.

“We could have bailed out there,” Delgado coach Joe Scheuermann said Sunday night. “We got the big double-play ball and came right back and answered. That was the key.”

In the top of the fourth, the sixth through ninth hitters in the Dolphins’ lineup ignited a three-run response that put Delgado (43-11) ahead for good.

A Jordan Caillouet single, Troy Lewis double and Bryce Adams single plated one run before Rivers Frederick doubled down the right-field line to tie the game and chase Seminole starter Chris Sauve-Genhardt. Two batters later, Josh Watkins’ single scored Adams.

“Frederick’s hit was huge,” Scheuermann said. “We finally got into their bullpen. We sure didn’t do that the first two games.”

After the teams had combined for nine runs on 19 hits in the first 3 1/2 innings, someone needed to start hanging zeroes on the linescore. That someone was Ebersole.

“Ebersole was really the difference,” Delgado coach Joe Scheuermann said Sunday night of his freshman reliever, who would end up working 5 1/3 innings in relief of starter Jacob Neil to get the victory. Ebersole scattered six hits, allowed one earned run, walked no one and struck out three.

Scott Stonestreet got the final five outs to record his sixth save.

Scheuermann was complimentary of Seminole, who came into the tournament ranked 20th.

“This was a good ballclub,” said Scheuermann, “the caliber of club … we’ll see in the World Series.”

All because of a key double-play ball and an answer on offense.