Andrew Prignitz and the Blue Dragons had a 2-0 lead early against powerful New Mexico Junior College, but the Thunderbirds' powerful offense - the best in the NJCAA in 2005 - woke up for an 11-2 opening-round victory over HCC.

2005 NJCAA World Series - Opening Round
New Mexico Junior College 11, Hutchinson 2
May 28, 2005 - Sam Suplizio Field, Grand Junction, CO

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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - For five innings, Hutchinson Community College sophomore right hander Jason Banks had the nation’s top offense befuddled.

Then with one swing of Amadis Padilla’s bat, that all changed.

Scoring single runs in the first two innings, the Blue Dragons saw the awesome armament of No. 5 New Mexico Junior College in a three-inning onslaught that spoiled Hutchinson’s first-ever game in the NJCAA World Series on Saturday, May 28, 2005. New Mexico scored 11 unanswered runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to defeat the Blue Dragons 11-2 in a rule-rule, eight-inning contest at Sam Suplizio Field.

The Blue Dragons, fresh off their first Region VI championship in 30 years, came out aggressively at the plate, but were only able to produce single runs in the first and second innings. It looked like Banks (6-3), who had his personal six-game winning streak snapped, looked like he would make it stand up with five impressive innings. Banks allowed only three hits to the Thunderbirds (51-10), who hit a nation’s-best .411 this season.

The Blue Dragons had several offensive chances in the first five innings against New Mexico starter Brian Flores (11-1). But the Dragons stranded five runners in scoring position and had two runners erased on base-running errors.

The New Mexico sixth started harmless enough with a bloop single, but the trouble was starting when Lindy Wray dropped a fly ball in right center to set up a big inning. After another bloop single, Padilla drove a Banks offering over the right-field wall for a grand slam and a 4-2 lead.

“I felt good,” Banks said. “I was throwing pitches and getting ground balls and doing what I was supposed to do. He made a good swing. It was the best hit they got off me. It was down low about 6 inches off the plate and he got a hold of it. It was the pitch I was told to throw.”

The Thunderbirds rolled from there, hitting three home runs and producing 12 hits overall. Flores settled in and allowed just one hit after the third inning.

Sophomore first baseman Thad Weber went 2 for 4 with an RBI to lead the Dragons, who had only five hits in the game. Lindy Wray, Noah Krol and Andrew Prignitz had the only other HCC hits.

“We didn’t score near enough runs that it was going to take to win that game,” Crookes said. “Anytime you leave guys in scoring position and have a chance to execute and score runs without actually getting a hit, you would like to capitalize in that situation. We did a couple of things wrong. We didn’t execute when we had a chance to go up three, four or five to nothing. We didn’t keep putting pressure on them. They we made a couple of errors and they capitalized on those errors.

“That five-run inning really took the wind out of our sails.”

Banks lasted 5 1-3 innings, throwing 101 pitches. He allowed seven hits, five runs and three walks while striking out three. Sean Peery, Patrick Hilboldt and Jon Hansen pitched in relief.

Padilla was 1 for 4 and drove in five runs. Cory Zimmerman, Cory Fielding and J.M. Deveries had two hits each to lead New Mexico Junior College, also making its first NJCAA World Series appearance.

The game started on a high note for HCC with consecutive singles by Wray, Krol and an RBI single by Weber to give Hutch a 1-0 lead. That potential big inning was thwarted by a Ryan Whitely double play.

Prignitz led off the second with a single and moved to second on a Luke Naccarato sacrifice bunt. After moving to third on a passed ball, Prignitz scored on Torey Williams groundout for a 2-0 lead.

The Dragons had Flores on the ropes in the third inning. Brandon Doherty was hit with a pitch and Wary walked. After Krol’s sacrifice bunt moved the runners up, the Dragons failed to score in the inning.

After Padilla’s grand slam, Corey Johns singled down the right-field line to score the fifth run of the New Mexico sixth inning and a 5-2 lead.

“Nobody was really worried,” Weber said of the mood after the grand slam. “It was a situation we’ve been in all year, all the wins in Region VI. We didn’t need to panic. We had opportunities early in the game to put up runs, so we thought it wouldn’t be a problem to put up runs. He pretty much shut us down after the second inning and he got better as the game went along. We can’t let opportunities to slip away.”

The Thunderbirds’ offense didn’t let up. New Mexico scored two in the seventh and four more in the eighth on the power of home runs by Chris French and Zimmerman.

“We just couldn’t stop it when we needed to stop it,” Crookes said.