Hutchinson CC Sports Information
MIDWEST CITY, Okla. – After being relatively silenced in the first game on Thursday, the Hutchinson Community College baseball team's offense unloaded on Rose State in the nightcap to split the first two games of a doubleheader on Thursday.
Five different Blue Dragons drove in at least two runs – Zach Baxley had three RBIs and four different pitchers combined on a two-hitter in a 17-5 victory in Game 2. Rose State's Jake Hamilton struck out 14 Blue Dragons in a complete-game 4-2 victory in the opener.
The No. 20-ranked Blue Dragons move to 6-3 overall with the third game of the series set for 1 p.m. on Friday in Midwest City.
GAME 2 RECAP
Hutchinson pounded out 15 hits – five were extra bases and three were home runs – to score in 7 of 9 innings in the nightcap.
Christopher Noble hit his first home run as a Blue Dragon, a leadoff shot to open the seventh for a 10-1 lead. Then Conor Craig and Logan Sartori hit back-to-back homers to open the ninth inning.
Noble was a double short of hitting for the cycle in going 3 for 4 with two runs scored and two RBIs to lead the Blue Dragon offense. Noble also had an RBI triple in the eighth. He was on base in 5 of 6 plate appearances.
Dylan Nedved extended his hitting streak to nine games going 2 for 6 with a run and RBI.
Baxley was 2 for 6 with a double and three RBIs. His two-run double in the first got the Dragons on the board. He also had an RBI single in a five-run third.
Brian Skillman was 2 for 5 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Ryan Moritz was 2 for 5 with a pair of runs.
Craig came off the bench to go 2 for 3, including his first Blue Dragon home run.
Logan Sartori hit his third homer of the season and stole three bases in going 1 for 4, but he was on base four times. Riley Metzger had two RBIs with a ground out and sacrifice fly.
The Blue Dragons were 5 of 6 in stolen bases.
Freshman starter Jake Bunz (2-0) worked five innings to earn the win. He struck out nine and allowed one unearned run, four walks and only one hit. Bunz struck out the side in the third.
Matt Hopkins pitched two innings and allowed four hits and four unearned runs on one hit with three strikeouts and two walks.
Dalton Lindor and L.J. McDonough both pitched 1-2-3 innings with one strikeout in the eighth and ninth innings respectively.
Rose State was led by Blake Tubbs, who hit a seventh inning grand slam to extend the game after Hutchinson was a strike away from a run-rule victory.
GAME 1 RECAP
Hamilton out-dueled Hutchinson starter Miguel Reyes in a battle of complete games in the series opener.
The Blue Dragons took a fast 1-0 lead with an RBI double by Riley Metzger. But Rose State scored three runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead for good.
Hutchinson, which left six runners on base in the first five innings missed out on big innings in third and fifth. The Dragons had runners at second and third in the third with one out and Hamilton got out of that jam with back-to-back strikeouts. Then in the fifth Jeremiah Ceasar lead off with a bunt single and later scored on Sartori's RBI base hit to cut the lead to 3-2. Hamilton allowed nothing else despite two on with one out after Sartori's hit.
Hamilton retired the final eight Blue Dragons he faced after Sartori's hit.
Reyes (0-1) pitched six innings and allowed five hits and four earned runs while striking out nine.
The Blue Dragons did manage to get seven hits off Hamilton. Metzger had the only extra base hit, a double in the first.
Nedved was 2 for 4 with a run scored. Sartori and Metzger both had RBIs.