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Devils capture district title

Andrew Harley

The Devils beat Olathe 10-8 in Delta to secure their first district championship since 1998.

J.J. Alvis hurled six solid innings to pick up the win. Steve Evancho pitched the seventh inning to earn a save for the game.

Eagle Valley split the two previous games against the Pirates this year.



The Devils were one hit away from inflicting the 10-run rule and winning the game in the fifth inning, but Olathe came back and made a nailbiter out of it.

“We still aren’t playing our best baseball,” Eagle Valley coach Derek Cordes said. “We didn’t stink today, but we also didn’t smell like roses.”

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Eagle Valley’s offensive stars included Keegan Keltner, who went 3-for-4 with a home run and a triple, and he scored three runs. Justin Wood was 2-for-2 with two walks, and he scored three runs as well. Craig Jagger had two hits, and Brett Klahr went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs.

The Devils hope to earn a No. 1 or 2-seed in the regional tournament, which begins Saturday.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of celebrating after the game because the guys know that they still have things to work on,” said Cordes. “The guys are hungry to get better. They were happy to win, but the competition’s going to get a lot tougher this weekend.”

Everybody’s been helping. I’ve got great people around me. Pitching coach Nick Klahr, first-base coach Matt Krietzer and manager Cory Zehring have all done great things in helping this team stay focused.”

Eagle Valley will move on to the state tournament Saturday. Seedings, opponents and locations will be announced later this week.

Andrew Harley can be contacted at 949-0555 ext. 608 or at aharley@vaildaily.com.


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