Region VI Winner's Bracket
2-seed Johnson County vs 3-seed Butler
Date: May 18th
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: Eck Stadium
Watch Live: butlergrizzlies.com/watchlive
Massey Ratings Game Prediction: Johnson 6-4
Massey Ratings Chance to Win: Johnson 65%, Butler 35%
OPENING NOTES
- The 3rd seeded Butler Grizzlies and the 2nd seeded Johnson County Cavaliers will meet in the winner's bracket of the Region VI Playoffs
- The Region VI Tournament is double elimination, meaning that the loser of this game will fall into the loser's bracket, rather than being eliminated
- The winner of this game will play in the winner's bracket semi-final on Friday at 4PM, while the loser will play Friday at 10AM
- The Grizzlies finished second in the Jayhawk West and the Cavaliers finished as KJCCC East Champions
- The Grizzlies advanced to this game after defeating Fort Scott 3-2 on Thursday
- Johnson County defeated Seward County 7-1 on Thursday afternoon
- Butler Baseball has won at least 35 games in five straight seasons
- The Grizzlies have won eight of their last ten games
- This is the first time the Grizzlies have advanced into the winner's bracket of Region VI Playoffs since 2015
- The Grizzlies did not appear in any NJCAA Poll this season, while Johnson County finished ranked #2 in the final poll
- Butler is 4-7 against ranked opponents this year
- Butler's strength of schedule (SOS) is ranked 118th by Massey Ratings, Johnson's SOS is 127th
- Against common opponents, Butler is 20-7 and Johnson is 30-6. Those teams being Cowley, Neosho, Coffeyville, Highland, Cloud, Colby, and Crowder, Allen, and Fort Scott
Last action for the Grizzlies
Wednesday, May 17th | Region VI Second Round | Ft. Scott 2, Butler 3
- The Butler Baseball team defeated the normally high-scoring Fort Scott Greyhounds in a defensive battle 3-2
- Izack Tiger through a complete nine-innings, allowing just two runs on five hits while striking out 15 batters
- Brock Toothaker was the only Grizzly with more than one hit, going 2-3 with an RBI, and he drew a walk
- The Grizzlies managed to draw eight walks in the game, while Tiger issued zero walks
- The Grizzlies enter the game against #2 Johnson County with a record of 39-21 overall
THE OPPONENT
- The 2nd seed overall and the KJCCC East Champions, the Johnson County Cavaliers enter with a record of 51-7 overall and they finished 29-3 in conference play
- Johnson County has won 16 straight games
- The Cavaliers 51 wins this year, is a program record, breaking the previous record of 50 set back in the 2014 season
- The Cavaliers advanced to this game by sweeping Colby in the first round and then won the aforementioned second round game against Seward
- Johnson County has a Massey Ratings RPI ranking of 5th, up three spots from last week
- This is the highest ranking of any team in the KJCCC with the next closest team being Barton who is 17th
- The Cavaliers are 3-0 in neutral site games this year
- Johnson leads the KJCCC in batting average at 0.369
- Of the all players in the KJCCC Johnson County has two players ranked in the top-5 for batting average
- Those players being Ryan Callahan (0.433) and Dagen Brewer (0.449)
- Johnson starter Luc Fladda is second in the conference in ERA at 2.61 and has a perfect 10-0 record
- Johnson has the 20th ranked offense and 20th ranked defense in NJCAA Division I
- As a team, Johnson County has the lowest ERA in the KJCCC at 3.50
RECENT WINNING
- The Grizzlies have won 15 of their last 18 games and have held opponents to four or fewer runs in 12 of those 18 games
MOST RECENT MEETINGS
- Butler is 3-2 against Johnson County since 2012 with all of those meetings in the playoffs
- The most recent meeting came in 2021 sub-regional when Butler eliminated region top seed Johnson 14-9
- In 2017, Johnson won a Region VI First Round matchup against Butler 2-1
- In 2015, Butler defeated Johnson 10-0 in the loser's bracket final
JUST KICKEN' IT
- Starter Caden Kickhaefer leads the KJCCC with an ERA of 2.41 this season
- Kickhaefer is fourth in innings pitched in the KJCCC with 74.1
- Kick is also tied for the fewest home runs allowed among pitchers in the Jayhawk Conference with four
HUDDY HOMERS
- Justin Hudson leads the Grizzlies in home runs this season with 16 and he's hit four homers over his last seven games played
IN DYER NEED
- After missing nine games last month due to injury, Hayden Dyer has returned to the lineup and had a big impact on the Grizzly batting order. Since his return, he's batting 0.408 (20-49), with 21 RBIs, and he's hit seven home runs, while drawing ten walks
TIGER KING
- Grizzly ace Izack Tiger is the all-time program leader for strikeouts in a career with 243. He has a career K/9 of 11.39 and a K/9 this year of 12.86 which ranks 16th in the NJCAA and is the second highest mark in the Jayhawk Conference
OTHER KJCCC SECOND ROUND MATCHUPS:
#7 Seward vs #2 Johnson (1PM)
#8 KCK vs #1 Barton (4PM)
#5 Cloud vs #4 Cowley (7PM)
TEAM LEADERS AS OF 5/17:
HITTING
Batting Average: Hayden Dyer: 0.388
RBIs: Hayden Dyer: 64
Hits: Hayden Dyer: 71
Runs Scored: Josh Holmes: 50
Doubles: Justin Hudson: 18
Triples: Five players tied: 1
Home Runs: Justin Hudson: 16
Walks Drawn: Brock Kuehler: 38
PITCHING
Innings Pitched: Izack Tiger: 84.2
Wins: Tied: Caden Kickhaefer and Izack Tiger: 10
Saves: Blake Werry: 7
Strikeouts: Izack Tiger: 121
ERA: Caden Kickhaefer: 2.41
Fewest BBs Issued (Min 40 IP): Caden Kickhaefer: 22
Complete Games: Izack Tiger: 6
LOOKING AHEAD
As mentioned, a win means the Grizzlies will play in the winner's bracket semi-final Friday at 4PM, while a loss will send them to the loser's bracket where they would play Friday at 10AM in an elimination game.