Hutchinson CC Sports Information
MT. PLEASANT, Texas – For the second-straight game, the Hutchinson Community College bullpen was strong.
Thanks to 7 1-3 innings of brilliant relief work from Ryan Summers and Zach Philbin, the No. 20-ranked Blue Dragons completed a three-game series sweep of Northeast Texas, defeating the Eagles 11-7 on Sunday.
Hutchinson improves to 5-2 overall, while Northeast Texas drops to 2-10. The Blue Dragons are scheduled to play Redlands Community College in a doubleheader on Tuesday at Hobart-Detter Field.
The Blue Dragons trailed 7-2 after two innings on Sunday after a six-run second inning. Summers relieved starter L.J. McDonough after 1 2-3 innings. Summers should have gotten out of the second without any runs scored, but one of three Hutch error kept the inning alive and Summers wound up allowing two unearned runs.
But that was it.
Summers allowed just one hit and two walk over the next four innings with only one runner reaching second base. All told, Summers worked 4 1-3 innings with five strikeouts and two hits, two unearned runs and three walks allowed.
Philbin (1-0) entered the game to start the seventh. Of the 12 batters he faced, Philbin struck out a career-high seven in three scoreless innings. Philbin allowed only two hits and one walk. Philbin was credited with the victory.
Offensively, the Blue Dragons racked up 11 hits, including three for extra bases.
Sophomore Riley Metzger went 2 for 4 with a double and three RBIs. Zion Bowlin and Dylan Nedved had two hits each. Baxley and Logan Sartori drove in two runs each. Nedved and Brian Skillman both had doubles.
The Blue Dragons utilized their running game with a season-high seven stolen bases in seven attempts. Sartori and Baxley stole two each.
Trailing 1-0 after one inning, the Dragons tied and then took the lead in the top of the second. Max McGuire's sacrifice fly to center scored Baxley to tie it. Then Bowlin's two-out RBI single scored Metzger for a short-lived 2-1 lead.
After their six-run second, the Eagles led 7-2 into the fifth inning when the Blue Dragon comeback began.
Hutchinson put together a four-run fifth inning with a two-run single by Sartori. Metzger ripped a two-run double to pull Hutch within 7-6.
The Blue Dragons tied the game with an unearned run in the seventh. After Skillman doubled to lead off the seventh, he scored on an Eagle throwing error to knot the game at 7-all.
Baxley delivered the go-ahead hit with two outs in the top of the eighth. Baxley singled to left to score Mason Lowe and Sartori. Metzger then drove in his third run of the game with a single to center to give Hutch a 10-7 lead. The Dragons tacked on one more run with a Nedved RBI double in the ninth.