SARTORI TIES RECORD AS DRAGONS TAKE 2 FROM BUTLER

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The hits, and runs, kept on coming on Thursday for the Hutchinson Community College baseball team.

One day after scoring a school single-game record 28 runs, the Blue Dragons scored a combined 29 runs and hit six more home runs in taking the first two games of a four-game Jayhawk West series with the Butler Grizzlies on Thursday at Hobart-Detter Field.

Logan Sartori tied a single-game record with seven RBIs as Hutchinson defeated first-place Butler 14-10 in the first game on Thursday. Riley Metzger hit a grand slam and Ryan Summers tossed 5 2-3 innings out of the bullpen as the Dragons won the nightcap 15-10 to extend their winning streak to six consecutive games and improve to 13-8 overall and 6-4 in the Jayhawk West.

Combined with Hutchinson's record-breaking 28-24 victory over North Iowa Area on Tuesday, over the last three games, the Blue Dragons have scored 58 runs on 48 hits with 12 home runs and 24 total extra-base hits.

Sartori became the fifth Blue Dragon in history with seven RBIs in a single game joining Stewart Hoover, Jake Ek, Quintin Crandall and Josh Williams. Sartori was 3 for 3 with two two-run doubles and a three-run home run the first game. Over the past two days, Sartori is 10 for 14 with 10 runs, three doubles, two home runs, 11 RBI and five stolen bases.

GAME 1 RECAP
Despite being out-hit 16-10 and committing five errors, powered by Sartori and home runs from Bobby Morgensen and Garrett Stephens, the Dragons used four big innings to earn the Game 1 victory.

The Dragons produced three runs in each of the first two innings and scored four runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings

Stephens tied career highs with three hits and three RBIs. Morgensen went 2 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs.

Sartori and Morgensen had back-to-back homers in the fifth inning.

Blue Dragon starters Masen Palmier (2-1) earned the victory with a tough 5 1-3 innings. Palmier struck out a season-high seven with no walks. He gave up season highs of 14 hits and nine runs, seven were unearned. Dayden Lane worked the final 1 2-3 innings.

The top three batters in Butler's order – Patrick Bethea, Keone Givens and Javier Pena were a combined 9 for 12.

GAME 2 RECAP
Summers became the innings' eater that head coach Ryan Schmidt was looking for. Summers (2-0) worked a gritty 5 2-3 innings to earn the win and did so with a career-high eight strikeouts.

Summers entered the game with the Dragons leading 6-4 and the bases loaded with no outs in the second inning. After walking the first batter he faced to make it 6-5, Summers struck out Payton Base and then coaxed an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play from Alex Brough to end the inning. The only runs Summers surrendered came on a two-out, two-run double by Base in the fourth inning. The Grizzlies again loaded the bases in the fifth with one out, but Summers struck out Givens and got Jason Soule to fly out to right the end that threat.

Butler stranded 11 runners on base in the second game.

The Dragons trailed 3-0 after in the first inning, but scored six in the bottom of the frame. Metzger hit his second grand slam of the season and Scott Wolverton added a solo homer in a six-run first inning. Metzger added an RBI triple in Hutch's five-run second inning and Stephens added a three-run home homer to lead 11-5 after two innings.

Over the last two days, Metzger has three home runs and 11 RBIs. In Game two, Metzger went 3 for 5 with five RBIs before leaving the game in the fifth inning.

Stephens had a seven-RBI doubleheader with four driven in in Game 2. He homered for the second-straight day and also had a bases-loaded hit by pitch in the first inning.

Sartori added three more hits with a double, three runs scored and two stolen bases. Wolverton had his first multi-hit game of the season with a solo homer and RBI single.

Lane pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning for Hutch and Dylan Nedved worked a scoreless ninth, inducing Soule into a game-ending 5-4-3 double play.

The series resumes on Saturday with a doubleheader at McDonald Stadium in El Dorado beginning at 1 p.m.