MAHER BLAST TURNS DRAGONS’ FORTUNES AROUND IN 2024 OPENER
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
BUHLER – After sitting out the 2023 season as a redshirt, Quinn Maher didn't waste any time getting started in 2024 on Thursday.
Pinch-hitting the bottom of the fifth inning of the Hutchinson Community College baseball team's season opener against the Southeast (NE) Bobcats, Maher hit the first-pitch he saw for a go-ahead three-run home run.
Trailing by as many as four runs in the opener, the Blue Dragons rallied to defeat Southeast 8-6 in head coach Brock Nehls' Blue Dragon debut on Thursday at Buhler's Wray Field. Maher had three more RBIs in Game 2 as the Blue Dragons completed a sweep of the Bobcats with an 11-1 run-rule victory in seven innings.
The 2-0 Blue Dragons next play the Central Christian College JV in a single nine-inning game at 1 p.m. on Tuesday at Hobart-Detter Field. The Blue Dragons will complete a four-game series with Southeast in a doubleheader next Thursday at Hobart-Detter Field.
GAME 1 RECAP – Blue Dragons 8, Southeast 6
The Blue Dragons trailed Southeast 5-1 through four innings in the 2024 season opener and the Bobcats had all the momentum.
With one out in the Dragon fifth, Colin Cymbalista walked and Cody Gunderson was hit with a pitch. Both runners moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch and Cymbalista scored on a Tyson Vassart sacrifice fly that cut the Bobcat lead to 5-2. Luis Pimentel-Guerrero then beat out an infield single to short to score Gunderson cutting the Southeast lead to two.
After a Jordan Tucker single, Maher came up as a pinch hitter and drove the first pitch he saw over the left-center field fence for three-run home run in his first career at-bat which gave Hutchinson a 6-5 lead.
The Dragons sent 13 batters to the plate in a seven-run fifth inning.
After falling behind 5-1, the Blue Dragons outscored Southeast 18-2 over the remainder of the doubleheader.
Kael Babin had the only multi-hit game in the Blue Dragons' eight hit attack. Vassart drove in two runs. The Blue Dragons took advantage of six walks and six hit batters. Gunderson, Tucker and Cooper Wesslund were each hit with pitches twice in the game.
The Blue Dragons stole eight bases in Game 1, which tied for the fourth-most in single-game Blue Dragon history. The last time the Dragons had at least eight stolen bases in a single game was against the Sterling College JV on April 22, 2015.
Caden Wanless earned the victory in his Blue Dragon debut. He pitched three innings in relief and struck out five with two hits, one run and four walks allowed. Bradley Neill pitched a spotless sixth inning and Cole Toureau struck out three in earning his first save of the season.
GAME 2 RECAP – Blue Dragons 11, Southeast 1
Maher continued to do damage against the Bobcats in Game 2. His two-run single was part of a seven-run first inning that helped the Blue Dragons take control early. The Dragons led 7-0 after one inning and 9-0 after two innings.
Cymbalista started that seven-run first with a solo home run. He later capped the first-inning explosion with a two-run single that scored Blake Bradford and Wesslund to make it 7-0.
Cymbalista was 2 for 4 in Game 2 with a run and four RBI to lead a 10-hit Blue Dragon attack.
Tucker was 2 for 4 with a pair of singles, a run scored and an RBI. Maher was 1 for 3 with three RBIs. Maher had a sacrifice fly in the second inning.
Trenton Roehler tossed three shutout innings in relief with seven strikeouts to earn the pitching victory for the Dragons in his Blue Dragon debut. Roehler allowed two hits and walked two, but had a streak of five consecutive strikeouts in his performance.
Sam Ojeda started and worked the first three innings. He allowed five hits and one earned run with two strikeouts. Gus McKay had a strikeout in a scoreless top of the seventh inning.
The Blue Dragons had six more stolen bases in Game 2. Babin tied a single-game career high with three stolen bases. He also had three steals against the Sterling College JV on April 25, 2022.