NJCAA team out-slugs Kansas Stars 11-10

Words came pouring out of Brylie Ware when describing his feelings playing, and beating, former major-league players as part of the NJCAA national team.

Ware could easily recount the feelings he had talking to former stars during the NJCAA’s team’s 11-10 win over the Kansas Stars on Wednesday at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

The hit Ware had against seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens? Get back to him on that.

“It was … oh, goodness. I can’t really put that into words yet,” Ware said. “That really hasn’t sunk in yet.”

The NJCAA handed the Stars their first defeat of the National Baseball Congress World Series, though both teams advanced to Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Ware, a former Sedgwick High player who was an All-American for Neosho this spring while leading the nation in batting average, home runs and RBIs, may be the last hitter Clemens ever faces in a competitive environment.

After Ware’s two-run single in the top of the third, Clemens, whose 354 career wins rank ninth on MLB’s career list, walked off the mound to a standing ovation from a sold-out crowd of nearly 7,000.

Clemens, 54, retired from the major leagues after the 2007 season. He turned 54 last Thursday, but that’s a meaningless detail of the story Ware will probably tell for the rest of his life.

“It’s just ‘I got a hit off of Roger,’” Ware said.

Nine years after retirement, Clemens didn’t possess anything like the fastball velocity he used to strike out 4,672 batters – third all-time – over 24 seasons.

Clemens was as wily as ever, though, striking out Handsome Monica with two runners on in the first and working the corners of the plate to help offset his lower radar-gun readings.

He couldn’t survive a third inning in which he allowed two hits and hit two batters. Ware’s single came on Clemens’ 45th pitch, and he was removed by Stars pitching coach Dave LaRoche, a former major-league pitcher.

“That was his (decision),” LaRoche said. “He was running out of gas. Just to be able to go out and compete at his age, that’s awesome. We’re very happy to have him. He had a good time. They battled, and they made every out tough to get. He got in trouble a little bit in each inning.”

The Stars didn’t make Clemens, or any players, available to the media following the game. They play the defending champion Seattle Studs in Thursday’s quarterfinals, part of an eight-team elimination bracket. The NJCAA team plays the San Diego Force on Thursday.

The Stars’ relief pitching excelled in their first two wins but fell short on Wednesday. Left-hander David Purcey, formerly of the White Sox and Blue Jays, allowed six runs and retired three batters during the sixth and seventh inning.

Purcey threw a wild pitch and walked four, and the NJCAA team combined for eight runs against him and Nate Robertson. A five-run seventh turned a 10-6 Stars advantage into an 11-10 NJCAA lead.

“We have a very good team,” Ware said. “Our pitching did very well tonight, our bats came through. We can hit the ball a little.”

After Jayson Nix’s three-run double in the sixth, NJCAA pitchers recorded the final 10 outs without allowing a run.

The Stars dealt with some attrition, as Ryan Langerhans and J.D. Drew both left with day-to-day injuries near their hip and Dan Uggla was unavailable due to another commitment. He could return by the weekend.

The Stars, as every other team, need three wins in three days to win the championship

“These guys are older, and I can attest to that, because I’m older,” Stars manager Dick Robertson said. “They don’t have the stamina. They still can do it, but just like tonight, you’ll pull a muscle swinging the bat and things like that. They’re champions. They’ll be out there, giving everything they’ve got.”

NJCAA 012 003 500 – 11 12 2

Stars 400 024 000 – 10 13 0

W — Osby. L — Robertson.

NJCAA batting – Gates 1-3, Biggers 2-4, Granberg 2-4, Monica 0-2, Toliver 0-1, Ware 1-4, Aplin 3-5, Morimoto 1-3, Malone 1-4, Mallard 1-4.

NJCAA pitching – Burks 0 IP-2 ER, Kinsey 4-0, Lawrence 1/3-2, Gonnerman 1 1/3-4, Osby 1/3-0, Stone 1-0, Bartin 1-0, Fernandez 1-0.

Stars batting – Langerhans 0-1, Beckett 0-1, L. Nix 0-2, Wilson 2-5, Orr 3-5, A. LaRoche 0-5, Inge 1-3, Drew 2-2, Penny 1-1, J. Nix 2-5, Wesson 0-5, K. Clemens 1-3, Hill 1-1.

Stars pitching – Clemens 2 2/3-3, Marquis 2 1/3-0, Purcey 1-6, Robertson 1-2, Germano 1-0, J. LaRoche 1-0.

This story was originally published August 11, 2016 at 12:12 AM with the headline "NJCAA team out-slugs Kansas Stars 11-10."