Austin Daily Herald

Published Monday, May 18, 2009

They’re headed back home.

The Riverland Community College baseball players lost both of their games at the Junior College World Series over the weekend in Tyler, Texas, finishing their season 37-10.

The Blue Devils held their own in both contests, falling 14-8 in game one Saturday against Richland (Texas), the No. 1 team in the country, before being edged by Suffolk County (New York) 5-3 Sunday.

We have a great group of guys. They worked hard, so I’’m really happy with the outcome," said Scott Koenigs, Riverland head coach.

In the first game, Richland opened up a lead by scoring eight runs in the second inning, but the Blue Devils fought back.

Riverland cut the deficit to 10-7 heading into the eighth and finished with eight runs on 13 hits.

We really hit the ball well," Koenigs said.

Riverland pitchers struggled at times for the Blue Devils, walking 11 and hitting another three.

We gave up 14 free passes in that game," Koenigs said. Against a team like that, that’s the favorite to win the whole thing, we can’t do that."

In the second game, Riverland left 13 runners on base in the loss.

Pitcher Brandon Huhn pitched eight and a third innings in a game coach Koenigs felt his team should have won.

We outhit them and outplayed them," he said. We just didn’t get a clutch hit."

The Blue Devils finished the year ranked No. 6 in the nation.