DRAGONS SPLIT FIRST TWO GAMES WITH BEAVERS
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College baseball team's final placing in the Jayhawk West and seed for the Region 6 Tournament will be decided on the final day of the regular season on Saturday.
The Blue Dragons looked to be in good shape after the first game of a four-game series against the Pratt Beavers on Thursday at Hobart-Detter Field as sophomore A.J. Mustow drove in three runs in a 6-1 victory.
But the Beavers jumped out to a three-run lead in Game 2 after four innings and that that lead stand up in a 3-2 victory over the Blue Dragons in Game 2.
The Blue Dragons (35-19) are tied for third place with Colby in the Jayhawk West with 16-14 records. Butler is fifth at 15-15. Colby defeated Butler twice on Thursday in El Dorado. The Blue Dragons play at Pratt at 1 and 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at Stanion Field and Butler travels to Colby on Saturday.
The top four finishers in the Jayhawk West earn opening-round best-of-3 series in the Region 6 Tournament, which starts next Wednesday.
GAME 1 RECAP – Hutchinson 6, Pratt 1
Trailing 1-0 through 3 innings and being held without a hit for 3 2-3 innings, Mustow changed everything with a solo home run to right field with two out in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at 1-1.
The Blue Dragons then loaded the bases in the fifth with walks to Leo Griffin, Jarrett Herrmann and C.J. Reid. The Dragons broke the tie with a bases-loaded walk to Anthony Mazza and led 3-1 when Quinn Maher was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Mustow delivered a two-run single up the middle for a 5-1 lead. Maher capped a five-run inning when he stole home after Pratt tried a pickoff attempt of Mustow at first base.
Trenton Roehler retired the Beavers in order in the sixth and Brand Phillips did the same with two strikeouts in the seventh.
The Dragons were limited to just three hits. Mustow was 2 for 2 with his 10th home run of the season in the fourth inning and three RBIs. Pinch-hitter Scotty Fegen had the other Hutchinson hit.
Roehler (5-3) earned his second-straight win going six innings on Thursday. Roehler allowed just three hits and one earned run with two walks and five strikeouts.
GAME 2 RECAP – Pratt 3, Hutchinson 2
The Blue Dragons out-hit Pratt 10-4 in Game 2, but came up with single runs in the fifth and ninth innings after Pratt took a 3-0 lead.
Reid doubled in Eli Duncan with a double off the right-field wall to cut the Beaver lead to 3-1 in the fifth inning. The Dragons then stranded runners at second and third in the seventh and left another runner on in the eighth.
Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the ninth, Griffin led off the inning with a walk. He was at second base with two out when Herrmann delivered a pinch-hit RBI single that scored Griffin to cut the Pratt lead to 3-2. Reid then singled to move the tying run to second, but that's where the comeback ended.
Reid was 2 for 5 with a double and RBI to lead the Blue Dragons. Duncan had the only other extra-base hit with a double in the fifth inning.
Freshman starting pitcher Lachlan Rosser (5-4) allowed four hits and three runs with seven strikeouts and three walks. He came up a two-out, two-run double to Carson Dalton in the fourth inning. Then Kyle Reece tripled with two out to drive in a run for a 3-0 lead.
Relief pitcher Sean Combs tossed four scoreless innings with no outs allowed and the only two walks he surrendered were immediately erased on double plays.
Pratt's victory snapped a 10-game losing streak and an 11-game skid against the Blue Dragons that dated back to 2022.