DELONG INSIDE-THE-PARK HOMER KEY TO DRAGON SWEEP
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
PITTSBURG – Tyler Delong had the rare double-double of getting the game-winning RBI and the pitching win to help the Hutchinson Community College baseball team clinch a doubleheader sweep of the Labette Cardinals on Monday.
Delong hit a go-ahead inside-the-park home run in the fifth inning and combined that with 2 1-3 innings of hitless relief as the Blue Dragons defeated Labette 7-4 in the second game on Monday at Pittsburg State University.
Jenner Steele and Luke Satori had three hits each and three Blue Dragon pitchers held the Cardinals to five hits in a 10-3 Game 1 victory.
The Blue Dragons improve to 5-2 overall heading into a three-game weekend series with North Central Texas starting Friday evening in Mt. Pleasant, Texas.
GAME 2 RECAP
Just moments after taking the mound to get a huge strikeout to end the Cardinals' four-run fourth inning. Delong was batting with the bases empty and two out in a 4-4 tie in the top of the fifth.
Delong hit a sinking line drive to center that Labette's Nick Bowlan dove for and missed, allowing the ball to roll all the way to the center-field wall. Delong easily circled the bases for an inside-the-park home run, his first career home run, to give the Blue Dragons a 5-4 lead.
From there, Delong struck out the side in both the fifth and sixth innings. He had a pair of walks in the sixth, but stranded the tying and go-ahead runs on bases.
Delong had seven strikeouts and two walks in 2 1-3 innings for his first career pitching victory. Caden Pouge pitched the seventh to collect his first career save.
Four Blue Dragon pitchers held Labette to four hits.
Delong was 2 for 3 with two runs and won RBI to lead Hutchinson's six-hit attack in Game 2. Cade Argo and Cole Cosman had doubles.
Hutchinson's first two runs came when Drew Reetz scored on a wild pitch and Mason Lowe followed Reetz home on an errant throw. The Dragons made it 4-0 when a double-steal of second and third by Steele and Sartori turned into a collection of throwing errors as both players scored on the crazy play.
The bizarre plays kept coming in the fourth. Labette had a runner thrown out at the plate after a bad pickoff throw from Cosman wound up being a Jenner-to-Cosman putout at the plate. The same inning was extended on a wild pitch on a swinging strikeout. Labette parlayed that and three walks into a three-run Bowlan double to tie the game at 4-all.
The Dragons scored two insurance runs in the seventh when a Drew Reetz sacrifice bunt turned into Labette's fourth and fifth errors of the game that allowed Steele and Delong to score and make it 7-4.
GAME 1 RECAP
The Blue Dragons pounded out a season-high 15 hits and scored in five of seven at-bats in a Game 1 victory.
Steele hit his second home run of the season, going 3 for 4 with two runs and two RBIs. Sartori went 3 for 5 with a double and two RBIs. Argo, Austin Callahan, Delong and Drew Reetz had two hits each. Callahan, Delong, Reetz, Sartori and Steele all had doubles. Sartori, Callahan and Steele had two RBIs each.
Will Thompson (1-0) earned the win in his first career start. Thompson allowed four hits and three runs with two strikeouts and two walks. Cade Fenton struck out four and allowed one hit and no runs in two innings. Hunter Waugh struck out two in one inning of work.
The Blue Dragons out-hit Labette 15-5.