DRAGONS USE POWER TO EARN PAIR OF WINS AT COLBY
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
COLBY – The Hutchinson Community College baseball team to sole possession of first place in the Jayhawk West on Thursday, hitting a combined six home runs to sweep the Colby Trojans in the first two games of a huge four-game series.
Riley Metzger and Ryan Moritz homered in the first game and Jake Bunz grinded through five tough innings on the mound for his eighth win in an 8-4 series-opening win. Dylan Nedved homered twice and tied a team single-game record with seven RBIs – Max McGuire and Zion Bowlin also hit homers – as Hutch outslugged the Trojans 18-6 in the second game.
The Blue Dragons improve to 34-16 overall and lead the Jayhawk West with an 18-8 record. With Seward County and Cloud County getting swept in their respective series on Thursday, the Blue Dragons open a two-game lead on the field with six to play.
The series with Colby resumes on Saturday at Hobart-Detter Field. Game times are 1 and 3 p.m. The 2019 sophomores will also be honored at that time.
Nedved is the fifth Blue Dragon to record seven RBIs in a single game in team history. The last was Josh Williams against Seward County in March 14, 2015 at Hobart-Detter Field.
Nedved also had seven total hits on Thursday and moved into the Blue Dragon career Top 10 for hits with 141. He is tied with Thad Weber for eighth place on the career list. Teammate Logan Sartori is now 14th on the career hits list with 132.
With the wind blowing out to right field on Thursday, the Blue Dragons combined for 26 runs and 30 hits in the first two games of the series.
GAME 1 RECAP
The Blue Dragons had a tough assignment in the opener against the hottest pitcher in the Jayhawk West in Colby sophomore Logan Hoffman, whose last outing with a one-hit shutout against Garden City last week.
Hutch scored one in the top of the first on a Metzger sacrifice fly to score Sartori. Then in the second, Will Reetz was hit with a pitch for a nation-leading 25th time to load the bases. Sartori was hit by a pitch to make 2-2 and Zane Schmidt guided a ball through the left side of the infield to score Bowlin and Reetz to give Hutch a 4-2 lead.
Hoffman lasted just 2 1-3 innings and allowed six runs and six hits with four strikeouts and three walks.
Moritz hit a solo homer and Sartori singled in a run in the third to make it 6-2 at that point.
With Hutch leading 6-2 in the fourth, Metzger led off with a home run and McGuire doubled up Nedved to make it 8-4.
Bunz (8-1) grinded through five-plus innings. He allowed a two-run home run to Enoch Perez in the first and Chris Tilly had a two-run single in the third. Bunz finished the game allowing nine hits and four earned runs. He struck out seven and walked two.
Bunz went out for the sixth inning and gave up a double and single. Ryan Summers came into the game and walked the bases loaded with no out. Summers then got a pair of infield flies and a fly ball to the field to end the Colby threat.
Nedved pitched a scoreless seventh with one strikeout to close the Game 1 victory.
The Blue Dragons had 12 total hits with two doubles and two homers.
Nedved was 3 for 4 with a double and run scored. Schmidt was 2 for 4 with two RBIs. Metzger was 2 for 3 with a home run, two RBIs and a run scored. Sartori was on base three hits with a hit, walk and hit-by-pitch. He drove in two runs.
GAME 2 RECAP
The Blue Dragon offense was relentless in the second game, scoring runs in seven of their nine at-bats.
The Blue Dragons tied season highs for runs (18) and hits (18) and amassed a season high for total bases (35).
Leading 1-0 after one inning, the Blue Dragons scored five in the second to take charge. Bowlin hit a two-run home run to left field to make it 3-0. Schmidt followed with an RBI single and Nedved singled in two to make it after 1 1/2 innings.
Leading 9-3 after five innings, Nedved launched a three-run blast with one out in the sixth to build a nine-run lead.
Zach Baxley ripped a two-run double and scored on Moritz's hit in a three-run eighth to lead 15-6.
The Dragons closed the onslaught with a Schmidt RBI single and Nedved's second home run of the game – his second two home-run game of the season – a two-run blast in the top of the ninth for an 18-6 lead.
Six Blue Dragons had multi-hit games, led by Nedved and Schmidt with four hits each.
Nedved was 4 for 6 with four runs scored and seven RBIs to go with his two home runs. Schmidt was 4 for 5 with a double, three runs and two RBIs.
Sartori, Moritz, McGuire and Bowlin all had two hits each. Baxley, McGuire and Bowlin had had two RBI each.
Miguel Reyes (2-3) earned his first pitching victory since March 15 with 5 2-3 tough innings in windy conditions. Reyes allowed six hits, four runs and three walks. With four strikeouts, Reyes now has 125 for his career and moved past Kyle Simonds into seventh place on the career strikeout list.
L.J. McDonough picked his a three-inning save with just one hit and on runs allowed. He struck out five and walked two in his second-straight impressive outing.