YEAGER HELPS DRAGONS RALLY FOR DH SPLIT WITH BUTLER

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

Freshman starting pitcher Merek Yeager pitched six strong inning to lead the No. 11 Hutchinson Community College baseball team to a key 12-1 victory over Butler in Game 2 of a Jayhawk West doubleheader on Thursday at Hobart-Detter Field.

Yeager's clutch performances can on the heels of Butler hitting five home runs and scoring four runs in the seventh inning to break a 9-all tie for a 13-11 win in the series opener.

The Blue Dragons are now 27-5 overall and 9-1 in the Jayhawk West. Butler is 17-11 overall and 11-3 in league play. Hutchinson and Butler conclude their four-game series at 1 and 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at McDonald Stadium in El Dorado.

GAME 2 RECAP – Hutchinson 12, Butler 1, 7 innings
Yeager opened his strong performance with a 1-2-3 first inning. He got some defensive help in the second with an 8-6-4 inning-ending double play. Butler scored its only run off Yeager in the fourth. The Dragon right hander then closed out his performance by retiring the final seven Grizzly batters he faced.

Yeager tied a season high with six innings pitched. He allowed five hits and one earned run with three strikeouts. Jeffrey Neill tossed a scoreless seventh to close out the run-rule victory.

Offensively, the Blue Dragons had nine hits, but took advantage of a season-high 11 walks, eight Butler wild pitches, four hit batters and three Grizzly fielding errors.

Jackson Schanuel had the only Blue Dragon multi-hit game of Game 2, going 2 for 3 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

With hits in both games on Thursday, Anthony Mazza, Eli Duncan and Aidan Marien all extended their hitting streaks on Thursday. Mazza extended his to 21 games, which is the second-longest hitting streak in Blue Dragon history. Duncan now has a 17-game winning streak, which is the seven-longest in team history. Maren now has an 11-game hitting streak.

After scoring two unearned runs without the benefit of a hit in the first inning, the Dragons scored six runs in the second to take an 8-0 lead. Mazza had a bases-loaded walk, Jordan Kuhnau had an RBI groundout and Schanuel and a two-run single to build a 6-0 lead. Schanuel scored on a wild pitch and Duncan's RBI triple scored Cru Huenfield for an 8-0 lead.

The Dragons added four more runs in the third for a 12-0 lead. Kuhnau's RBI double was the only hit of the inning.

GAME 1 RECAP – Butler 13, Hutchinson 11
While the wind was blowing in from left-center in Game 2, the wind was howling out of the south in Game 1 and led to a combined 24 runs, 31 hits and nine home runs.

Game 1 had four lead changes. Tied at 9-all after six innings, Butler scored four runs in the top of the seventh after hitting back-to-back home runs – a three-run homer from Yusei Uzawa and solo homer from Danny Wideman for a 13-0 lead.

Hutchinson scored a pair of unearned runs to pull within 13-11 after Finn Hochstein scored on a wild pitch and Mason Wisnieski's pinch-hit RBI double.

The Blue Dragons had 13 hits led by Schanuel, who went 2 for 4 with two home runs and three RBIs.

Huenfeld had a two-run home run and triple, going 2 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Duncan hit a solo home run to center in the third inning for his 20th career home run.

Hutchinson had nine total extra-base hits with four doubles, a triple and four home runs, the ninth time this season the Blue Dragons have hit four or more home runs in a game this season.

Sophomore Seth Ainsworth (1-2) was strapped with the loss. He allowed six hits and six runs in 2 1-3 innings.

The Grizzlies pounded out 18 total hits, including 12 extra-base hits, including five home runs.