David Longmore's opposite-field single against a drawn-in infield helped the Blue DRagons rally from a three-run deficit to defeat Allen County 6-5 in the Overland Park sub-regional opener on May 8, 2010.

2010 Region VI Sub-Regional - Opening Round
Hutchinson 6, Allen County 5
May 8, 2010 - Cavalier Field, Overland Park, KS

BLUE DRAGONS RALLY
TO TOP ALLEN COUNTY IN
SUB-REGIONAL OPENER

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OVERLAND PARK – Trailing by three runs twice in its Region VI sub-regional opener against Allen County on Saturday May 8, 2010, the Hutchinson Community College baseball team rallied with three runs in its final two at-bats and made Shawn Lewick’s gutsy pitching effort stand up.

David Longmore singled through a drawn-in infield in the eighth inning to drive in the go-ahead run as the Blue Dragons advanced in the winner’s bracket of the four-team Overland Park sub-regional with a 6-5 victory over Allen County at Johnson County Field.

“The whole team gutted it out,” HCC head coach Kyle Crookes said. “Once they went up 5-2, we could have gone away. We didn’t and we responded. It was a really good feeling and a really good win. We just have to make sure that this isn’t the highlight of our trip here.”

HCC trailed 3-0 after one inning and 5-2 after 4½ innings before starting to chip away at the Red Devils (26-23), who outhit the Blue Dragons 10-3.

Down 5-3 in the seventh, Hutchinson parlayed a throwing error, walk, stolen base and wild pitch into an RBI safety squeeze from Andrew Dixon and a groundout by freshman Ryan Mayfield to tie the game at 5-all.

Then in the eighth, Shaun Hoover led off with a walk, stole second and was sacrificed to third by Dan Klein. Facing a drawn-in infield, Longmore sliced a hard-hit groundball down the third-base line past a diving Curtiss Bunch at third with the go-ahead run and a 6-5 lead.

“I had runners in scoring position in my first three at-bats,” Longmore said. “I had a couple of swings, but nothing to shout about. When Hoover got to second base with no outs, I knew Dan was going to bunt him to second. I knew he got his job done, so I had to get my job done. I was due to help the team out.”

That set up a dominating ninth by Lewick (6-1), who won in his fourth consecutive start. Lewick struck out the first two batters looking and then survived HCC’s third defensive error of the game. Lewick ended the game by nailing Connor McCrite, who was trying to steal, to end the game.

Lewick threw a career-high 146 pitches in tossing his sixth complete game. Lewick tied a career high with 10 strikeouts. He surrendered a career-high 10 hits and gave up five runs; three were earned, and walked three.

“Too many pitches. It wasn’t that it was early, I was making changes with the mound,” said Lewick, referring to the 9 a.m. start time. “It was flat and I was trying to find a release point to throw strikes.”

Added Crookes: “I would say he gutted through it. Stuff didn’t go right in the first inning and he makes a mistake. The two runs he gave up in the fifth were big-hop grounders that you can’t do much about. He did what he does. Once we gave him the lead, he wasn’t going to give it up.”

Dixon’s third home run of the season and singles by Klein in the fourth and Longmore in the eighth were the only Hutchinson hits off three Red Devil pitchers, which walked eight HCC batters in the game.

After falling behind 3-0 after one-half inning, HCC started chipping away.

Luke Acosta was hit by a pitch and later stole third, scoring on a passed ball to get HCC on the board. The Dragons cut it to 3-2 in the third when Dixon hit a solo homer on a 2-0 pitch to right field.

Allen County rebuilt its three-run lead in the top of the fifth. After an error led to one run, Michael Schell singled home Marcus Peavler to give Allen County a 5-2 lead.

The Dragons got one run back in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Jamell Cervantez and Dixon both walked and moved up the second and third on a double steal. Mayfield, who had two RBIs in the game, hit a high chopper to first, but it scored Cervantez and cut the deficit to 5-3.

In the seventh, Matt Williams led off and reached on a throwing error. He stole third and Cervantez walked. Dixon, who drove in two runs, executed a safety squeeze to score Williams to pull HCC within one. Then after a wild pitch to starter and losing pitcher Aaron Burke, Mayfield’s groundout to first scored Dixon with the tying run.

Allen County got two singles to lead off the eighth inning, but Klein picked off Schell at first base and then threw out Wyatt Hall at second trying to steal.

Allen County lost three runners on base in the last two innings. Brayden Brumley, Schell and Brad Alberts both went 2 for 4 to lead the Red Devils.

GAME NOTES – HCC has homered in six-straight games. … In the eighth inning, Klein picked off his fifth runner and then threw out his 22nd base stealer of the season. … Dixon is now tied for eighth on the career hit list with 124 and fifth on the career stolen base list with 53. … Acosta is now alone in third in stolen bases with 57. … Lewick is now 13-2 in his HCC career. The 13 wins are eighth most in team history. … Lewick jumped from tied for 10th to seventh on the career strikeout list with 111. He jumped from an 11th-place tie to fifth on the single-season list with 74 strikeouts … With three walks on Saturday; Shaun Hoover has 36 walks for the season, moving him into a tie for eighth on the single-season list. … Klein’s sacrifice bunt in the eighth was his eighth of the season, which is tied for 10th on the single-season list. … Hoover is now third in the single-season defensive chances list with 362. Klein is fourth with 346. … Hoover is second in putouts with 331 and Klein is fifth with 283 putouts. …
Lewick’s sixth complete game is tied for sixth on the single-season list.