Hutchinson CC Sports Information
Just when his team needed just such a performance, freshman Mike Brown delivered a clutch performance on the mound to help the Hutchinson Community College baseball team split the first two games of a Jayhawk West series on Friday with Dodge City at Hobart-Detter Field.
Brown tossed a season-high eight innings on Friday in an 11-2 Blue Dragon victory that snapped Dodge City's six game winning streak in the second game of the conference doubleheader.
The Blue Dragons couldn't stop Dodge City's Colton Onstott in the opener as his seventh RBI of the game turned out to be the game winner in an 11-10 victory over the Blue Dragons in the first game.
Hutchinson is now 16-14 overall and 9-9 in the Jayhawk West. Dodge City is 20-10 overall and 6-8 in the conference. The Blue Dragons and Conquistadors will complete the four-game series at 1 p.m. Saturday in a doubleheader at Dodge City's Cavalier Field.
GAME 2 RECAP
After using five pitchers in the first game on Friday, Brown's pitching performance was well timed for the Blue Dragons.
After giving up single runs – the second was a long home run to designated hitter Cameron Fritz – in each of the first two innings, Brown got on a roll. After giving up the home run to Fritz with two out in the second inning, Brown retired 19 of the final 22 Conquistadors he faced and didn't allow a hit over the final six innings he worked.
Brown struck out a season-high eight batters to move his season-record to 2-1. He allowed just three hits, two earned runs and one walk in 110 pitches thrown.
Matt Hopkins allowed one hit and struck out two in the ninth inning to close out the game.
The Blue Dragons out-hit Dodge City 10-4 in the second game. After not holding a lead in the opener on Saturday, Hutch didn't take long to change that fact in Game 2.
Trailing 1-0 in the first inning, Wyatt Divis laced an opposite-field double to left field to score Logan Sartori and tie the game at 1-all. The Dragons then loaded the bases with two outs and Zach Baxley delivered a bases-clearing double to give Hutch a 4-1 lead after one inning.
The teams traded home runs in the second and third innings – Fritz in the second for Dodge and Divis hit his second homer, a solo shot in the third – to give Hutch a 5-2 lead.
The Dragons broke the game open with a four-run seventh inning. Garrett Stephens launched a three-run home run and Dylan Nedved had a sacrifice fly to give Hutchinson a 9-2 lead after seven. Stephens and Ryan Moritz tacked on sacrifice flies in the eighth for an 11-2 lead.
Divis and Bobby Morgensen had three hits each to lead the Blue Dragons. Morgensen scored three times, while Divis added two doubles, his second home run of the series, three runs scored and two RBIs.
Stephens had four RBIs in the game, while Baxley went 2 for 5 with three RBIs.
GAME 1 RECAP
Onstott had a huge game to lead the Conquistadors in Game 1 going 5 for 5 with two home runs and seven RBIs. His sixth-inning one-out single drove in Cade Engle broke a 10-10 tie and turned out to be the game-winning run.
Five Blue Dragon pitchers allowed 15 hits and eight walks to the Conquistadors, including three home runs. Dayden Lane (1-2) suffered the loss for the Blue Dragons.
Brock Schaffer drove in a career-high four runs, going 3 for 3 with a two-run home run. Nedved extended his hitting streak to nine games with a 2 for 5 game that including a solo home run, his second of the season and two-run double. Baxley was 2 for 3. Divis also homered and reached base three times, scoring twice.
The Blue Dragons trailed 10-5 through 4 1/2 innings when the parlayed three walks and two hit batsmen into a five-run inning. Nedved's two-run double tied the game at 10.