BLUE DRAGON BASEBALL’S 2025 SEASON COMES TO CLOSE

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

SALINA – Tied at 3-all after three innings in the Plains District Tournament, the Hutchinson Community College baseball team was blitzed by eight unanswered runs by the Kansas City Blue Devils on Thursday.

That eight-run blitz led the sixth-seeded Blue Devils to an 11-3 victory in seven innings over the fourth-seeded Blue Dragons at Dean Evans Stadium and eliminated Hutchinson from the Plains District Tournament.

Head Coach Brock Nehls' second season with the Blue Dragons closes with a 40-21 overall record. Nehls' 91 victories in his first two seasons is the most for a Blue Dragon head coach in his first two years in program history.

After Kansas City scored single runs in each of the first three innings to take a 3-0 lead, the Blue Dragon offense sprung to life in the bottom of the third. A bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to A.J. Mustow forced home Cael Hamrick and got the Blue Dragons on the board. Quinn Maher then hit into an RBI fielder's choice to score C.J. Reid to cut the deficit to one. Scotty Fegen tied the game at 3-3 with a sacrifice fly to score Anthony Mazza.

Two innings later, Kansas City had four-straight hits to open the fifth inning and six hits overall in a five-run fifth inning. The Blue Devils added three more runs in the sixth to build an 11-3 lead.

The Blue Dragons were out-hit 14-4 on Thursday.

Fegen was 2 for 2 with a double, stolen base and a sacrifice fly. C.J. Reid and Quinn Maher both had singles.

Freshman starting pitcher Seth Ainsworth (5-3) suffered the loss for Hutchinson on Thursday, going 4 2/3 innings with 11 hits and eight runs allowed. He struck out three. Noah McCombs pitched 1/3 of an inning, Brandt Phillips gave up three runs and three hits in his one inning of work. Sean combs worked a scoreless seventh inning.

Later Friday night Kansas City was eliminated by Cloud County 7-3.