Drew Parker admitted he was a little tired, but then again ...

“I think I have a couple left in me,” the Chipola (Fla.) College ironman pitcher said Saturday afternoon after throwing 61⁄3 innings — the first four perfect — in the Indians’ 27-12 semifinal victory over Spartanburg (S.C.) Methodist College in the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series.

All Parker did through 18 games is pick up two victories in his two starts and two saves — and he told coach Jeff Johnson that if needed, he’d give him a couple of innings in Saturday night’s championship game against New Mexico Junior College.

“He’s got a great heart and he understands how to pitch,” Johnson said. “He came up to me in the sixth and said, ‘I’ve got one more inning and I’ll be ready to pitch the next game.’ ”

With all the runs the Indians were scoring early, it might have been tempting for Johnson to take Parker out early and save him for Saturday night’s championship game.

Then again, the way Spartanburg Methodist has scored runs during the series, Johnson figured no lead was safe.

“Tim (Wallace) got a little upset when we bunted and ran a couple of times but we were up 13-4 on those guys (Monday night) and I didn’t want to use anything out of the pen if I didn’t have to,” Johnson said of his tactics in the middle innings when the Indians had what seemed to be an insurmountable lead.

Jesus Barroso, who hit a pair of three-run home runs (one in the first, the other in the ninth), dropped down a bunt in the fourth inning with runners at first and second with a 13-run lead, and the Indians didn’t back off from their hit-and-run philosophy.

“I hate for them to think we ran up the score on them, but that’s not what we were trying to do,” said Johnson, who had a long talk with Wallace after the game, explaining the strategy. “We were trying to get out of here with a win and save as much pitching as we could save. They’re a very, very dangerous club.

“If we’d have stopped, we would have been in trouble. That’s what happened the other night. We stopped up 13-4 (and won 14-12).

“This is my first time up here and everybody told me, ‘get as many runs as you can.’ I just talked to Ray (Birmingham, New Mexico’s coach) and told him, ‘get all you can get,’ and he said, ‘I will, and you get all you can get.’ This is for the national championship. You don’t get this chance very often. Crazy things happen in this game.”

They did Saturday afternoon.

With no run rule in effect — a concession to College Sports TV, which taped both games for replay later this week — the Indians were swinging freely against every Spartanburg pitcher.

And there were plenty of pitchers — six took the mound after scheduled starter Trey Delk was deemed not ready to throw because of an arm injury — and none had much success.

The semifinal game was one of the highest scoring in JUCO World Series history, but came up short of the record 44 scored by San Jacinto (Texas) College-North and Louisburg (N.C.) College in 2002, which San Jacinto won 25-19.

“We just came out aggressive thinking this could be our last game playing together as a team,” Logan Pierce said. “We took that to heart and played with everything we had.”

With Chipola banging out 27 hits, Parker wasn’t giving up anything on the other end.

He retired the first 12 men he faced, half of them on strikeouts, and wasn’t affected by the long half innings he was watching his teammates run around the bases.

“I was just worrying about throwing strikes,” he said. “I don’t know how many runs we were up by then. I knew I had (a perfect game going) but I knew they’d break it. They’re a good hitting team. They’ve hit the whole tournament.”

He did accomplish something no other pitcher managed — he shut out the Pioneers, who scored an average of 13 runs per game, for four consecutive innings. A leadoff home run to left by Phillip Morgan broke up the perfect game, and in the seventh, Parker started to run out of steam. That was noticeable when a ball thrown back to him by catcher Trey Manz glanced off Parker’s glove, and he wearily walked over to retrieve it.

“I kind of got a little tired and started throwing it in there,” admitted Parker, who had thrown 161⁄3 innings through the semifinal game.

Johnson left the pitch calling up to Manz and Parker, and they did all right.

“You couldn’t ask for a better performance from any guy,” Manz said. “He came out and threw strikes. Coach J told us today he was going to leave most of the pitch calling to me and him and it was pretty much up to whatever he wanted to throw.”

Manz put up his mitt and Parker threw fastballs and knee-buckling changeups for strikes all afternoon.

Chipola hit just over .500 for the game, 27 for 53. Pierce and Barroso went to the plate eight times each. Pierce, the leadoff man, reached base six times, with three hits and three walks. Barroso, who hits No. 2 in the lineup, was on base all but once, a strikeout in the eighth. He drove in six runs on the two home runs and had a pair of singles as well. Manz drove in four runs, going 3 for 5, and Daniel Renfroe, who hit a first-inning home run, went 4 for 5 and drove in four runs. He scored four runs.

Spartanburg (54-14, 3-2 JUCO) got three RBI each from Brooks Robinson and Travis Botts, both of whom homered.

Chipola has had numerous close calls just to reach Grand Junction. The Indians were the first team to qualify this year and after the semifinal game, they talked about being the last one standing.

“We figure we came all this way,” Manz said. “We might as well win something.”

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Patti Arnold can be reached via e-mail at parnold@gjds.com.