Late trouble

For six innings, Bret Schwartz and his Blue Springs baseball teammates were on cruise control.
The all-state shortstop, who has become the Wildcats’ No. 2 pitcher this season, had allowed just one run and three hits and was leading 5-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning.
That’s when the wheels fell off for the Wildcats as the never-say-die Broncos scored four runs to tie the game and pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning to claim a 6-5 Suburban Big Seven victory Tuesday afternoon at North.
Schwartz gave up back-to-back singles to lead off the bottom of the seventh and was pulled in favor of closer Tommy DiiBon.
“Hindsight is always 20/20,” Blue Springs coach Marc Hines said, “but now, I wish I’d have let Tommy start the seventh. But Bret was pitching so well I wanted to see if he could close it out.”
DiiBon, who has been effective all season, gave up a game-tying two-run homer to pitcher Brad Phillips and then saw the Broncos push across the winning run the next inning when catcher Austin Hill hit a ground ball to third base, that allowed Jeremy Guzman to score the winning run.
As the winning run scored, the Wildcats infielders protested that Hill hit the ball off his foot, which would have been a foul ball. But the home plate umpire disagreed, and Blue Springs fell to 18-4 overall and 9-2 in league play.
That leaves the Wildcats a half game ahead of 8-2 Blue Springs South. The Jaguars play host to conference opponent William Chrisman Thursday. They will play two games, to make up an earlier season rainout.
“We just talked with the guys about how you come back after a tough loss like this,” Hines said. “Like I told the guys, it doesn’t affect anything in district and we still have conference in our hands. We might share it with South, but if we take care of business against Liberty (Thursday at Blue Springs), we’ll be all right.”
The Broncos were lifeless through the first six innings, committing two throwing errors (that led to three unearned runs) and leaving three runners stranded on third base with less than two outs.
“For six innings, we were just going through the motions,” Lee’s Summit North coach Jeff Diekmann said after his team improved to 15-7 and 6-4. “If we get one of those runners in from third, Brad’s homer is a walk-off game-winner. Then, it was like someone flicked on a switch and we suddenly came to life. I wasn’t at all surprised when Schwartz started the seventh. The way he was pitching, I’d have had him start the inning, too.
“Then we got a couple of hits and Kevin (Medrano) hits the two-run double and Phillips follows with the big home run. That really got the bench fired up, and we found a way to push across the winning run the next inning. This is the type of victory you like to see before district.”
Hill, who made two costly throwing errors that allowed Wildcat runners to score, redeemed himself by driving in the run in the bottom of the eighth inning.
“That grounder doesn’t mean anything unless the guys get on base before me,” Hill said. “This was just a great team win and shows what type of character we have. We’re down 5-1 in the bottom of the seventh and don’t give up. Then, we go out and find a way to win.”
Kyle Barbeck, who will pitch Thursday against Liberty, had a single and double and drove home a run for the Wildcats.
“We’ll be all right,” Barbeck said. “This is a tough one, but we’re going to come back and be fine.”