DRAGONS OPEN SERIES WITH BUSTERS WITH TWO VICTORIES
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
GARDEN CITY – Sam Ojeda scattered six hits in his first complete game and Ryan Henderson had career highs for hits and RBIs to lead the Hutchinson Community College baseball team to a Jayhawk West doubleheader sweep of Garden City on Thursday at Williams Stadium.
Ojeda's first career complete game was part of Hutchinson's 5-1 victory in Game 1. Henderson had four hits and six RBIs to lead the Blue Dragons to a 19-9 seven-inning run-rule victory in Game 2.
The Blue Dragons climbed back over the .500 mark at 23-22 overall and are now 12-10 in the Jayhawk West. Garden City's losing streak grew to 12 games and are 7-39 overall and 3-23 in the league. Games 3 and 4 will be at 1 and 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at Hobart-Detter Field.
GAME 1 RECAP
Ojeda (3-1) gave up just six singles and one unearned run in his first complete game. Ojeda struck out six and walked just one.
The Blue Dragon starting pitcher got out of a major jam in the first inning when the Busters had three-straight singles with two out, but he got Kaelen Bing to ground out to end the inning. He survived two defensive errors to start the second by getting a strikeout and inning-ending double play.
Leading 2-0 in the fifth inning, Ojeda gave up his only run of the game as Garden City parlayed a Hutchinson error into a two-out Jake Wiley RBI single.
The game was scoreless through four innings. Hutchinson got on the scoreboard with a two-out, two-run single to score Max Childress and Blake Bradford for a 2-0 lead. Up 2-1 in the sixth, the Dragons added two runs when Jack Gardner doubled in Henderson and Max Childress singled home Gardner for a 4-1 lead.
Edmundson scored in the fifth to make it 5-1 with a stolen base and two-base throwing error.
The Blue Dragons had just five hits in Game 1. Bradford, Edmunson, A.J. Mustow and Childress had singles and Gardner had a double.
GAME 2 RECAP
The Blue Dragons exploded for eight runs in the first inning and kept pounding away for a season-high-tying 19 hits, including seven doubles and two home runs.
Henderson started his career-high game with a two-run home run in that first inning that gave the Blue Dragons a 4-0 lead to that point. He also added a bases-load walk in a first inning where the Dragons sent 14 batters to the plate. Henderson had a two-run double in the third inning and an RBI single in a six-run fourth inning.
Altogether, Henderson went 4 for 5 with a walk, double, home run and six RBIs. Henderson also scored two runs.
Henderson wasn't the only Dragon to have a big Game 2 as five Blue Dragon players had multi-RBI games and six had multi-hit games.
Mustow had a career-best four hits, going 4 for 5 with two doubles, three RBIs and three runs scored.
Bradford, Edmunson, Gardner and Childress all had two hits each. Edmunson tied a Blue Dragon single-game record with four runs scored, becoming the 23rd player in team history to do so.
Cody Gunderson scored three runs and drove in thee runs with a two-run double and bases-loaded walk in the eight-run first inning. Gardner had two RBIs. Jackson Young hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning that curled around the right-field foul pole for his first homer of the season.
Four Blue Dragon pitchers combined to strikeout 10 Garden City batters.
Starter Justin Smith, who worked the first 2 1-3 innings, struck out seven. Derrick Johnson (2-0) was the winning pitcher. He struck out three in 2 2-3 innings. Jackson Blue and Brady Bell worked an inning each.