BLUE DRAGONS CLAIM SERIES WIN OVER DODGE CITY
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The No. 21-ranked Hutchinson Community College baseball team won its seventh-consecutive Jayhawk West series dating back to last season with a doubleheader sweep of the Dodge City Conquistadors.
Sophomore Taber Stokes drove in two runs and scored another as the Blue Dragons defeated Dodge City 5-2 in Game 1 on Saturday at Hobart-Detter Field. The Blue Dragons completed the series win as freshman pitcher Lachlan Rosser tossed a three-hit complete game in an 11-1 win in seven innings.
Now 16-3, the Blue Dragons match the best start in program history through 19 games, tying the 2006 Blue Dragons. The Dragons are 3-1 in Jayhawk West play. Hutchinson plays host to the Cowley Tigers at 2 p.m. on Tuesday and will play the Barton Cougars in a four-game Jayhawk West series beginning Thursday at Hobart-Detter Field. Dodge City is now 12-6 and 1-3.
GAME 1 RECAP – Hutchinson 5, Dodge City 2
Stokes, who went 8 for 13 in the four-game series, started the game off with two-run single in the bottom of the first inning. Stokes then led off the third inning with a triple and scored on a Nick Glantz ground ball for a 3-0 lead.
That gave Blue Dragon pitchers Jake Wolcott and Collin Flores the run support they needed to get the victory.
Wolcott (2-0) pitched a season-long five innings to earn the victory. He scattered five hits and allowed two runs and two walks with two strikeouts. He pitched with runners on base in every inning, but got out of early jams when catcher Anthony Mazza threw out two Dodge City base stealers in the second and third innings. The Conquistadors broke through with two runs in the fifth against Wolcott, which cut the Dragon lead to 4-2.
Flores entered the game in the sixth inning and retired all six batters he faced for his first save of the season. Flores had two strikeouts.
Stokes led the Dragons' seven-hit attack going 2 for 3 with a triple, run scored and two RBIs. Mazza went 2 for 3 with a double and triple with a run and RBI. Mazza's fourth-inning triple that scored C.J. Reid gave the Dragons a 4-0 lead.
Reid went 2 for 4 with two runs scored and a stolen base. Scotty Fegen had an RBI single in the sixth to score pinch runner Cael Hamrick for a 5-2 Dragon lead.
GAME 2 RECAP – Hutchinson 11, Dodge City 1 (7 innings)
Rosser's first start of the season became the first complete game of the season for the Blue Dragons. Rosser allowed just three hits and one earned run, tying a season high for strikeouts with 6.
Rosser (1-1) faced no more than four batters in any one inning. The Dragons got defensive held with an inning-ending double play in the third inning and Mazza throwing out a Conquistador baserunner in the seventh inning.
Offensively the Blue Dragons scored four runs in the first inning. A.J. Mustow had a two-run double, while Leo Griffin and Nick Glantz had RBI hits in the inning. The Dragons added three runs in the third inning to take a 7-0 lead.
Mustow had his first career four-hit game going 4 for 4 with two doubles, two RBIs and three runs scored to lead the Blue Dragons.
Griffin went 2 for 4 with a double and two RBIs. Glantz had an RBI double and two sacrifice flies for a three-RBI game going 1 for 3.
The Blue Dragons had 12 hits with six doubles.
The Blue Dragons scored three runs in the seventh to get the game to a run-rule walk-off. Quinn Maher led off the inning with a home run. Stokes added an RBI double and then scored the Dragons' 11th run on Glantz's sacrifice fly.