Brandon Doherty and the Blue Dragons nearly made an improbable comeback after trailing South Mountain by eight runs, but HCC's 2005 season ended with an 11-8 loss in the 2005 NJCAA World Series.

2005 NJCAA World Series - Loser's Bracket 2nd Round
South Mountain 11, Hutchinson 8
May 30, 2005 - Sam Suplizio Field, Grand Junction, CO

BLUE DRAGONS’
2005 WORLD SERIES RUN
COMES TO AN END

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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Just when it looked like there was one more comeback left in them, the Hutchinson Community College baseball team’s 2005 season came to an end in the NJCAA World Series..

Trailing by as many as eight runs to South Mountain in an elimination game on Monday, May 30 at Sam Suplizio Field, the Blue Dragons nearly came all the way back, but lost 11-8, ending HCC’s first appearance in the World Series with a 1-2 record.

Hutchinson, which won its first regional baseball championship in 30 years, completes head coach Kyle Crookes’ first season at 38-22, and as Jayhawk West and Region VI champions.

Of their eight postseason wins, six were of the come-from-behind variety, including a World Series’ 7-5 win over Walters State, Tenn. The Blue Dragons were also 4-0 in elimination games this season. When the Dragons fell behind 10-2 in the fifth inning, it looked like South Mountain might run-rule HCC.

But as they have all season, especially in the postseason, the Blue Dragons battled back and gave themselves an opportunity to win the game.

The Blue Dragons scored in five of their final six at-bats and the bullpen of Adam Cornejo, Andy Dirks and Iban Ramirez quieted down the Cougar bats, allowing only one run and just five hits over the final 4 2-3 innings.

A big downfall for the Dragons against South Mountain was defense. HCC committed four errors that led to nine unearned runs. Blue Dragon starting pitcher Thad Weber gave up nine runs, but only one was earned, in 4 1-3 innings.

Hutchinson out-hit South Mountain 13-12, getting career-high three hits each from sophomore left fielder Andrew Prignitz and freshman third baseman Like Naccarato. Freshman Lindy Wray was 2 for 3 and finished the World Series with a .500 batting average (5 for 10). Prignitz and Noah Krol drove in two runs each and Prignitz scored a pair of runs. Sophomore Balin Bergman hit HCC’s only home run of the World Series, a mammoth homer over the left-field wall.

“Today we swung (the bats) really well,” Prignitz said. “At first, we didn’t. Their pitcher did a really good job of changing speeds on us. He didn’t have the best stuff, but he did a good job of changing speeds and location. We finally got on him and stopped chasing his curveball and got familiar with him a little bit and started to recognize what he was throwing.”

The HCC pitching staff did manage to hold down South Mountain first baseman Luis Nieblas, who started the World Series by going 7 for his first 7. Nieblas was 1 for 5 on Monday. Anthony Franco and Isiah Ka’aihue led the Cougar offense, each going 3 for 3. Ka’aihue also hit his second home run of the tournament, a solo shot in the sixth off of Dirks.

The Dragons got some good early defense. Catcher Torey Williams threw out South Mountain’s Franco on a steal attempt of second base. In the second, Naccarato made a tough fielding play to erase Ka’aihue in a rundown between second and third.

But a leadoff walk in South Mountain’s half of the third started a downward spiral for the Blue Dragons. A throwing error by Naccarato allowed two runs to score, then Ka’aihue doubled to give the Cougars a 3-0 lead. South Mountain plated three more runs in the fourth on a two-run double by C.J. Retherford and a Franco RBI single for a 6-0 lead.

“It’s a frustrating way to end the season, but all-in-all it was a successful year,” Naccarato said. “If a few balls would have bounced our way, it could have been different. Everyone came out and swung the bats really well. If you are going to go down, go down swinging.”

HCC cracked the scoreboard for the first time in the fourth. Naccarato singled to score Prignitz, who reached on an error to lead off the inning. Wray scored on the back end of a double steal to cut the South Mountain lead to 6-2.

Two more Blue Dragon errors in the Cougar fifth led to four more runs and a 10-2 lead and things really looked bleak for HCC at that point.

HCC scratched out two more runs in the fifth on a Dirks groundout and a Prignitz single to score pinch hitter Johnny Mitchell. Ka’aihue hit a solo homer off of Dirks in the sixth to give South Mountain an 11-4 lead.

The Dragons got a two-out rally going in the seventh when Krol broke out of his hitting slump with a ringing double off the right-field wall to score Prignitz and Clint Elkins to trim the deficit to 11-6.

Bergman homered with two outs in the eighth inning to slice to South Mountain lead to 11-7.

After Iban Ramirez pitched out of a small jam in the top of the ninth, the Dragons took their final shot against Retherford, South Mountain’s starter who went the distance for the Cougars.

With one out, Dirks doubled to left center and scored on a Prignitz single to cut the deficit to 11-8. Krol hit another smash to left, but the Cougar defense had him played perfectly for the second out. The game ended when pinch hitter Todd Schonhoff was called out on strikes.

“This is bittersweet (to end the season like this) because we want to win,” Crookes said. “It doesn’t ever feel good to lose. I want more for my kids. They play hard enough to win all the time and when you don’t, it hurts.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the kids and what they’ve done. I am extremely happy with the end result. If you have to end your season on a loss, this is the place to do it. It softens the blow a little bit.”