Fort Scott Community College's Ryan Daniel follows the ball as it leaves the park for the first of the Greyhounds' four home runs in the second game of a Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division doubleheader at Lions Field Saturday afternoon. Daniel went two for three in the second game as FSCC swept visiting Labette, 3-2 and 11-8. (Tribune photo/Scott Nuzum). [Click to enlarge]

Fort Scott Community College's baseball team returned to Lions Field after a week-long trip to Arizona and found home cooking to its liking in a 3-2, 11-8 sweep of Labette in a Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division doubleheader Saturday afternoon.

The Greyhounds (5-3 in the East, 13-10 overall) had to enjoy it while they could. They'll play their next seven doubleheaders on the road beginning with today's twinbill at Coffeyville. They won't play at home again until April 7 when Fort Scott hosts the Rockhurst JV in a non-conference twinbill.

"We'll get to bat first," Fort Scott head coach Chris Moddelmog says of the upcoming road trip. "We'll have to jump on people and play from ahead and keep it rolling. The conference is still wide open and we have a long way to go."

The Greyhounds are in third place in the East. Cowley (10-2, 12-10) is on top of the standings with Johnson County (8-4, 12-9) in second place. Fourth-place Independence (7-5, 10-10) is currently the only other team in the division that's over .500 in conference play.

On the Greyhounds' long road trip, they'll face Cowley Saturday in Arkansas City and Johnson County April 1 in Overland Park. Fort Scott was swept by Cowley at home earlier this season and split against Johnson County at Lions Field in the doubleheader before it went on its Arizona trip.

Even though the wind was blowing out all day, the first game of Saturday's doubleheader was a pitcher's duel. Zach Juliano, Fort Scott's emergency starter who normally is one of the closers, and Labette's Michael Listi allowed a combined total of seven hits.

Labette, which is in last place in the 10-team East (1-7, 5-10), scored first on Travis Sheets' second-inning solo home run, which was the only over-the-fence shot in the opener despite the brisk wind.

The Greyhounds scored all their runs in the bottom of the fourth. Brandt Barnes reached on a one-out error and stole second. Jason Houston drew a walk and Trevor Geist beat a long throw from the shortstop to load the bases. Ryan Daniel cleared the bases with a double to left.

Lee Harris' fifth-inning single plated Logan Nelson to bring Labette within 3-2. But Nelson was caught stealing and Juliano got Austin Hill to pop out to catcher Joel Fisk to end the inning.

The Cardinals got a runner on in each of the last two innings. But a 6-4-3 double play ended the threat in the sixth and the Cards couldn't get the runner past first in the seventh.

Juliano went the distance, allowing four hits and five walks while striking out five. His counterpart, Listi, allowed two earned runs on three hits and three walks while striking out five as he also pitched a complete game.

"Zach found out about 30 minutes before the game that he was going to start because we had a guy injured," Moddelmog said. "That was a great job on his part of being ready to pitch."

No player on either team had more than one hit. Fort Scott's only other hit was a fifth-inning double by Cullen Baxter.

The second game was more of what one would expect on a day the wind is blowing out. There were five home runs among the 23 base hits in this game

Fort Scott scored first as Daniel drove in two with a home run to left in the second inning. Andrew Minnich kept things going when he hit between third and short. Baxter bunted him over and Brandon Davis drove him in with a single to right.

Labette scored two in the top of the third to get within 3-2. Geist, acting as his own designated hitter, which college rules allow, belted a three-run circuit shot over the center-field fence in the bottom of the inning, scoring Barnes and Houston.

The Cardinals got two more in the top of the fourth to get back within 6-4. But Houston's two-run home run in the bottom of the frame boosted Fort Scott's lead to four runs.

Labette picked up three in the top of the fifth, two of which scored on Joe Walton's homer to left. The 'Hounds answered with two in the bottom of the frame, one on Minnich's one-out solo home run. Baxter then reached on an error and eventually scored when Zach Caldwell reached on an error.

Each team scored once in the sixth. Barnes boosted the Greyhound lead to 11-8 when led off with a bunt single, stole second and third, then scored on Daniel's sacrifice fly.

"We finally swung the bats a little bit," Moddelmog said. "And our pitching's been kinda carrying us all year and, for the first time, we helped them out and kept scoring."

Barnes went three for four for the Greyhounds, scoring three times. Geist, Daniel and Minnich each went two for three.

Hill was three for four for Labette while Werner Shoehmberg was two for three.

Since the Greyhounds never trailed, Geist was the winning pitcher. He went the first four innings and though he allowed six hits, none of the four runs Labette scored during his stint were earned. Eldon Little earned the save as he went the last two innings, getting the Cardinals out 1-2-3 in the seventh.

This was the fourth sweep this season for the Greyhounds in seven doubleheaders.

"We finally found a way to win two in one day," Moddelmog said, "That's the biggest thing."

The Greyhounds went 2-4 on their spring-break trip to Arizona. On day one, they defeated Gateway (Ariz.) 9-8 The next day, the lost to Iowa Western, the No. 11-ranked team in NCAA Division I, by a 10-6 score, which would be their widest margin in any game on the trip.

Day three saw a doubleheader split with Springfield College (Ill.), winning game one 9-6 while dropping the second, 7-5.

On the fourth day, the 'Hounds fell to Western Nebraska, 7-5, in 10 innings. On the final day, Scottsdale (Ariz.) took a 6-5 win over Fort Scott.

"We didn't win as many in Arizona as we'd liked," Moddelmog said. "But we really played well and started playing hard and having intensity every day out. We just tried to loosen up and play the game the correct way."

Moddelmog noted that the teams in Arizona used wood bats in their games. It seems as though this is a regular thing among the Arizona colleges.

Labette.............. 010 010 0 -- 2 4 3

Fort Scott.......... 000 300 x -- 3 3 1

WP -- Juliano. LP -- Listi.

HR -- Labette: Sheets (2nd inn., none on, two out).

Game Two

Labette............. 002 231 0 -- 8 11 2

Fort Scott.......... 033 221 x -- 11 12 2

WP -- Geist. LP -- Turner. Sv. -- Little.

HR -- Labette: Walton (5th inn., one on, two out). Fort Scott: Daniel (2nd inn., one on, none out), Geist (3rd inn., two on, none out), Houston (4th inn, one on, two out); Minnich (5th inn, none on, one out).