By By Austin Bishop/Special to The Star
May 12, 2001
Jered Salazar may not get a chance to take the mound for Bossier Parish (La.) Community College for the rest of the NJCAA Division Region 23 Tournament, but he certainly made his opportunity count on Friday night.
He struck out 10 and didn't allow a walk, while pitching Bossier Parish to a 10-5, complete game win over Jones Junior College.
The win puts Bossier into today's winner's bracket finals against Mississippi Gulf Coast at 4 p.m., while Jones drops into a 1 p.m. elimination game against host Meridian Community College in the double-elimination tournament.
The 4 p.m. winner advances to Sunday's finals, while the 1 p.m. winner plays the 4 p.m. loser at 7 p.m. in another elimination contest.
Salazar threw 122 pitches in the game, and won't be able to come back for the Cavaliers in the tournament, but BPCC head coach Jay Artigues said his sophomore right hander gave his team exactly what it needed.
No pitch made by Salazar was any bigger than one that came in the bottom of the seventh inning. Jones had scored three runs in the sixth thanks to a three-homer by Jason Rowland his second of the game to cut it to 10-5.
The Bobcats then loaded the bases with one out with three-hole hitter Matt McAlpin at the late and Rowland on deck.
Salazar (12-2) made a nice 2-0 pitch that McAlpin rolled into a double play on to end the threat.
Another big point in the game came in the top of the fourth inning with the 45-13 Cavaliers leading 5-2. Bossier loaded the bases and Jake Ritchie delivered with a towering homer to put the winners up 9-2.
Jones scored two in the bottom of the first on a two-run homer by Rowland to make it 2-0. Bossier scored two in the second thanks to doubles by Ritchie and Danny Guidry, a single by Lenny Mayard and a JCJC error.
A two-run single by Guidry sparked a three-run third for BPCC to make it 5-2 before Ritchie's homer in the fourth made it 9-2.
Bossier added another run in the sixth on a solo homer by Eric Emfinger to make it 10-2 before the 27-23 Bobcats scored three in the sixth on a three-run homer by Rowland.
BPCC banged out 13 hits on the night with Emfinger picking up a single, double and homer, while Mayard had a double and two singles. Ritchie and Guidry also had multiple hits for the Cavaliers.
Mario Laphand had three singles for Jones, while Rowland had a single to go with his two homers and Kyle Valentine had two singles.
Gulf Coast 9, Miss. Delta 6: Sophomore reliever Joe Davenport coaxed a bases-loaded foul out to end the game and give the Bulldogs their first win over Miss. Delta in five tries this season.
Mississippi Delta jumped out to a 3-0 lead with two in the first and one in the third. Gulf Coast scored four times in the bottom of the fourth. Mike Thrash tied the game at 3-3 on a three-run homer, then the Bulldogs used Mississippi Delta errors to make it 4-3.
Gulf Coast used a two-run double by Justin Mundt to go up 6-3 in the sixth and then two stolen bases by Thrash and a throwing error on the Delta catcher to take on another run in the seventh.
Mississippi Delta scored two times in the eighth to cut it to 7-5, only to have the Bulldogs, now 30-22 on the year, score two in the bottom of the eighth.
The Trojans, who finished the season at 28-19, scored a single run in the top of the ninth and managed to load the bases, before Davenport came on to get the save.
It was Davenport's sixth save of the season, while Brandon Erwin moved to 6-2 with the win.
Mundt had two hits for Gulf Coast, while Reed Thompson, Clint Turman and Keith Fitzgerald had two hits each.