Talent wins out as Crowder takes down Delgado to reach NJCAA World Series

NEW ORLEANS – Any good coach will tell you that he is only as good as his talent.

When you have more talent than the opponent and you play to your talent level, you are not going to lose.

That was the case Sunday at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium.

Fifth-ranked Crowder College dominated in all phases in a convincing 9-1 victory over Delgado in the championship game of the South Central District Regional.

The victory propels the Roughriders to the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado next weekend for a second straight season.

Scoreless into the third inning, Crowder (53-11) made Delgado pay handsomely for a mistake.

With one out, Adamo Stornello reached on a costly error and the Roughriders took full advantage.

Clayton Gray singled and with two outs, Josh Patrick ripped a two-run double to take a 2-0 lead before Peyton Holt doubled home Patrick and it was 3-0 as all three runs were unearned off Delgado starter and losing pitcher William Reed.

Crowder grew the lead to 5-0 in the top of the fourth inning on singles by Kenny Diclimente and Jackson Cobb before Stornello singled home Diclemente and Gray delivered Cobb with a sacrifice fly.

The Dolphins got their only run of the game in the bottom of the sixth on a solo home run by Josh Alexander, his second homer in as many games.

Crowder added a run in the seventh on an RBI single by Holt and finished it with three runs in the eighth with a pair of Delgado errors contributing to the rally which included an RBI single by Houston King and an double by Patrick.

Riely Hunsaker was outstanding for Crowder.

Hunsaker started and went 6 1/3 innings, allowing just a run on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts to pick up the win. Jake Wilson pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing no runs and a hit. Conner Floyd finished up for the Roughriders, striking out all three hitters to end it.

Delgado used five pitchers, including Tyler Velino, Caleb Dreux, Kaile Levatino and Carson Lore.

“We couldn’t have asked for any more of our kids,” Delgado coach Joe Scheuermann said. “They did everything they were asked to do and then some. We just ran out of bullets. We fought, we fought, we fought. The bottom was the other side had a few more bullets in their gun than we did. I told our club I think you just lost to the national champions.”

The Dolphins (37-16) had forced the deciding game with a 9-7 win over Crowder Saturday night but did not have much left Sunday. Alexander had two hits for Delgado.

Ground is expected to be broken on a beautiful clubhouse and locker room facility at Kirsch-Rooney for the Delgado program in the next week or two with the facility set for completion prior to next season. It is a project announced in 2020 which has been delayed by the pandemic and by Hurricane Ida.

“We’re looking forward to those pilings going in the ground very shortly here and I think it’s going to be the missing piece that maybe gets us over the hump,” Scheuermann said. “It’s going to be a big piece to our puzzle.”

FINAL
Crowder 003 200 130 — 9 12 0, 7 LOB
Delgado 000 001 000 — 1 6 3, 7 LOB
WP—Riely Hunsaker (2-3)
LP—William Reed (1-1)
Time of Game: 2:18
2B—Josh Patrick, Peyton Holt, Kenny Diclemente
HR—Josh Alexander (7)