DRAGONS CLOSE SEASON WITH SWEEP OF BRONCBUSTERS
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The No. 23-ranked Hutchinson Community College baseball team hit four more home runs to give the Blue Dragon pitching staff plenty of run support on Sophomore Recognition Day at Hobart-Detter Field.
The Blue Dragons closed the 2026 regular season on Saturday with wins of 8-0 and 15-2 in seven inning over the Garden City Broncbusters.
Hutchinson closed the regular season 43-13. Those 43 wins are tied for seventh-most in team history, sharing that mark with the 1999 and 2014 teams. The Blue Dragons finished second in the Jayhawk West with a 25-7 record.
The Blue Dragons will play East No. 7-seed Allen Red Devils beginning in the best-of-3 Region 6 Tournament opening-round series on Thursday at Hobart-Detter Field. Official Region 6 pairings will be released on Sunday.
The 2026 Blue Dragons set two more team records on Saturday, breaking the team season record for runs scored with 671 and for RBIS with 604. The Dragons extended their season record for home runs (116), doubles (171) and total bases (1,290). The Dragons are now second in total hits (685) and hit-by-pitches (137).
Right-fielder Cru Huenfeld went 4 for 7 with a home run and six RBIs combined on Saturday. He extended his single-season RBI record to 95 and is now tied with Zane Schmidt for second on the Blue Dragon single-season home run list with 22.
Huenfeld and Jordan Kuhnau both have 23 doubles this season, which ties Logan Sartori and Ben McLaughlin for fourth on the single-season doubles list.
Anthony Mazza, Kuhnau and Jackson Schanuel are now ranked Nos. 3, 4 and 5 in single-season hits with 84, 83 and 80, respectively.
Mazza now ranks second in career runs scored with 158, third in career highs with 164 and 10th in career RBIs with 115.
GAME 1 RECAP – Hutchinson 8, Garden City 0
Blue Dragon pitchers Karter Chamberlain and Brayden Henry combined for a four-hit shutout, the fourth shutout of the season for the Dragons.
Chamberlain (7-1) worked the first four innings and scattered three hits, only one after the first inning. Chamberlain struck out six and walked one. Only one Garden City batter reached third base against Chamberlain.
Henry earned a three-inning save, his third save of the season with three shutout innings. Henry allowed one hit and one walk with three strikeouts.
Schanuel and Huenfeld led the Blue Dragon offense with a combined six runs batted in and four hits.
Schanuel's RBI groundout and Huenfeld's RBI single gave the Blue Dragons a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Schanuel's two-run home run in the third gave Hutchinson a 4-0 lead in the third.
Diesel Purnell hit a two-run home run in the fourth for a 6-0 lead. Huenfeld then roped a two-run double to right-center in the fifth inning for an 8-0 lead.
Schanuel went 2 for 3 with his 15th home run of the season in Game 1. Huenfeld was 2 for 3 with a single, double and three RBIs.
Kuhnau went 3 for 3 with three doubles, which tied a Blue Dragon single-game record for doubles. He is the 11th Blue Dragon with three doubles in a single game, the first since Leo Griffin at Dodge City on March 6, 2025.
Purnell hit his fifth home run of the season, going 2 for 3 with two RBIs. Finn Hochstein had a double.
GAME 2 RECAP – Hutchinson 15, Garden City 2 ( 7 innings)
The Blue Dragons earned their 20th run-rule victory of the season in Game 2 on Saturday, pounding out 15 hits, including three doubles, two triples and two home runs.
The Dragons trailed 1-0 after one inning and tied the game with an Austin Crawford RBI single in the second. Hutchinson then scored 14 runs in its sext four innings at the plate, including a six-run sixth inning to push the game to a run rule in seven innings.
Mazza went 3 for 4 with his 10th home run of the season in the sixth, a three-run clout. Mazza scored three runs, had three RBIs and stole a base.
Schanuel became the 10th Blue Dragon with two triples in the same game, the first since Colin Cybalista on March 23, 2024 at Colby. Schanuel was 2 for 4 with two runs and two RBIs.
Huenfeld was 2 for 3 with an RBI double in the third and two-run home run in the sixth to finish with three RBIs.
Crawford drove in three runs going 3 for 3 with two doubles and two runs scored. Eli Duncan and Max Flowers both had two hits.
Seven different pitchers threw one inning each in a bullpen game for the Blue Dragons. Reece Usselman (1-0) earned the win with two strikeouts in a scoreless third inning. Usselman, Seth Ainsworth, Brooks Jones, Jorden Clarke and Kolby Heskett each pitched scoreless innings. Blue Dragon pitchers struck out six and allowed two runs and four hits.