Hutchinson CC Sports Information
Zach Firamture pitched six strong innings in Game 1 and Jenner Steele had his second multi-home run game in the last six days as the Hutchinson Community College baseball team took the first two games of its Jayhawk West series with the Butler Grizzlies on Thursday at Hobart-Detter Field.
Firmature's outing helped Hutchinson to a 6-5 victory in the series opener. Steele hit a pair of home runs to lead Hutchinson to an 11-6 lead in the second game.
The Blue Dragons improved 14-8 overall and is now 8-2 in the Jayhawk West. Butler is now 8-5 and 6-4 in the Jayhawk West. The final two games of the series will be Saturday at 1 p.m. at McDonald Stadium in El Dorado.
GAME 1 RECAP
Firmature earned his third-straight victory – all three wins were in conference games – and matched his season-long outing with six strong innings.
Firmature (4-1) allowed just two runs in the second inning. The Blue Dragon sophomore struck out six and walked just one. He allowed six hits and two earned runs.
Butler made a strong run at the Blue Dragons in the seventh inning. Cade Fenton pitched 1-3 inning and allowed three runs before Tyler Delong came in to earn his first save with back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.
Offensively, hits were tied at 10-10.
Will Reetz went 3 for 3 with two singles and a solo home run in the sixth inning. Reetz drove in two runs. Mason Lowe and Austin Callahan had two hits each. Callahan had an RBI single in the first and hit his ninth homer of the season, a one-out solo shot in the bottom of the fifth that gave the Dragons a 4-2 lead.
GAME 2 RECAP
Steele went 3 for 5 with two home runs and four RBIs to lead Hutchinson's 16-hit attack in Game 2. He hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first. He became the 39th Blue Dragon in program history to hit 10 home runs in a season when he launched a solo homer in the sixth to give the Dragons a 10-2 lead.
Lowe went 3 for 5 with a double and two runs scored from the leadoff spot. Callahan went 2 for 4 with a double, three runs and an RBI in the No. 2 slot in the order.
The top three Dragon batters – Lowe, Callahan and Steele – were a combined 8 for 14 with six RBIs and 8 runs scored.
Ben McLaughlin was 2 for 5 with three RBIs and Will Reetz was 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI. Hunter Gotreaux also went 2 for 4 with two runs.
The Blue Dragon pitching staff lived on the edge in every inning of Game 2 with the exception of the ninth. Butler had multiple baserunners on in each inning and wound up leaving 14 runners on base.
Starter Sammy Sanchez (3-1) worked the first five innings to earn the win. He allowed eight hits and two earned runs while striking out four.
Hunter Waugh worked 1 2-3 innings out of the bullpen. Josh Mitchell worked inning. Delong worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and got the final out of the inning. He issued a one-out walk in the ninth, but closed the game out with a fielder's choice and strikeout.