DUNCAN WALKOFF LEADS NO. 17 DRAGONS TO SWEEP OF NORTHEAST
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The 17th-ranked Hutchinson Community College baseball team snapped Northeast Community College's six-game winning streak with a sweep of the Hawks Tuesday at Hobart-Detter Field, winning game one 15-7 and game two 9-8 off a walk-off RBI single by sophomore infielder Elias Duncan.
Northeast was coming off playing a doubleheader at Barton Community College Monday, sweeping the Cougars 13-0 and 15-12.
Tuesday's wins tie the 2026 Blue Dragons for fifth on the program's win streak list at 12 in a row. Hutchinson is 12-1 this season. The current win streak is tied with streaks from 1976, 1977, and 2008.
The Blue Dragons came off a doubleheader sweep of the Highland Scotties on Monday.
GAME 1 RECAP – Hutchinson 15, Northeast 7
Jackson Schanuel hit his third homer run of the season with a three-run homer to get the first inning going for the Blue Dragons. His home run followed singles by leadoff batter Aiden Marien and catcher Anthony Mazza.
Schanuel totaled four RBIs in the game one win and was 2 for 3 at the plate.
Eli Duncan hit a leadoff home run to begin the bottom of the fifth inning – his fourth homer of the year.
Jordan Kuhnau hit a shot inches from leaving the park off the left field fence for an RBI double to give the Blue Dragons a 5-1 lead after two innings.
Kuhnau went 3 for 5, scored two runs and had two RBIs.
Cameron Curtis had the start and pitched one inning and retired the side on five pitches and had a strikeout. Reece Usselman threw two innings and had six strikeouts. Jorden Clarke had a pair of strikeouts in two innings of work.
Northeast hit a solo home run in the top of the second and added two runs in the top of the third to make it a 5-3 ball game.
Finn Hochstein continued his strong week with a hit dropped into shallow left field that scored two runs to give the Blue Dragons a 7-3 lead in the bottom of the third.
Max Flowers pinch hit in the bottom of the fifth and batted a triple. Then, Marien scored Flowers on a grounder up to centerfield for an RBI single, giving the Blue Dragons a 9-6 lead that led to a pitching change for Northeast.
Northeast led off the top of the sixth with a solo home off on the first pitch to cut the lead for Hutchinson to 12-7.
Marien, Mazza and Hochstein each had two RBIs. The Blue Dragons totaled 14 hits.
GAME 2 RECAP – Hutchinson 9, Northeast 8
Home run hitting was big in the late innings in game two.
Hutchinson led 7-6 entering the top of the seventh inning, but Northeast took the first pitch of the inning for the game-tying home run. Then just two pitches into the next at-bat, another solo home run gave the Hawks the lead 8-7.
But, Jackson Schaneul answered the call for Hutchinson and led off the bottom of the seventh with the tying home run to make it 8-8.
After being hit by a pitch, Diesel Purnell advanced to third on back-to-back wild pitches. That is when Eli Duncan delivered the game-winning RBI single on a hit to right field to lift the Blue Dragons 9-8 over the Hawks.
Duncan's delivering hit highlighted his day, going 2 for 4 at the plate and the game-winning RBI – the run being scored by Purnell.
Game two was a hitting clinic for both teams, Hutchinson tallying 11 hits and Northeast 13. Northeast hit four home runs in the game. Hutchinson had two homers.
In the top of the fifth, Northeast's Brice Wallar crushed a two-out three-run home run to tie the game 6-6.
After a single by pinch hitter Mason Wisnieski and a double by Marien, Mazza batted into a fielder's choice to score pinch runner Ty Wilson to regain the lead 7-6 for Hutchinson.
Early on, Kuhnau hit his fifth home run of the season with a two-run home run to put the Blue Dragons on the board in the first inning. That was Kuhnau's only hit of the game but reached base a second time on a hit by pitch. Mazza led the Blue Dragons in game two with three hits, two RBIs, and two runs scored.
Hutchinson saw four pitchers throw in game two – starter Kolby Heskett, Noah McCombs, Lincoln Muller and Brayden Henry. Hesket threw two innings, faced just eight batters, gave up two hits and one run and had one strikeout. Muller had a pair of strikeouts.