Mace Krol broke out of a slump with two hits to help the Blue Dragons force a second sub-regional championship game with Johnson County after a 5-4 victory at Lawrence Free State High School on May 11, 2010

2010 Region VI Sub-Regional - Championship No. 1
Hutchinson x, Johnson County x
May 11, 2010 - Lawrence Free State, Lawrence, KS

BLUE DRAGONS FORCE
SECOND SUB-REGION TITLE GAME
WITH JOHNSON COUNTY

CLICK FOR BOXSCORE

LAWRENCE – The Hutchinson Community College baseball team forced a second championship game in the rain-delayed Region VI Overland Park Sub-Regional on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 with a 5-4 victory over top-seeded Johnson County on Tuesday at Lawrence Free State High School.

Johnson County had the bases loaded with one out in the top of the ninth inning and closer Andrew Urban got Johnson County catcher Sam Stucky to ground into a game-ending 4-6-3 (Luke Acosta to Toby Cornejo to Shaun Hoover) double play to close out HCC’s sixth consecutive game decided by two runs or less.

“This team has a lot of character,” sophomore center fielder Jamell Cervantez said. “We might go down some runs, but we will always bounce back and fight to the end. After they went up 2-0, it set us back a little bit, but we responded and got a run across in the first. That helped us coming back and taking the lead later in the game.”

Johnson County took a 2-0 lead on a two-out, two-run RBI double by Tanner Funk in the top of the first inning. The Blue Dragons chipped away, getting a two-out bloop double by Mace Krol to score Cervantez for the first HCC run of the game. Cervantez then drove in the tying run in the second with an RBI fielder’s choice in the second.

Krol who broke an 0-for-19 slump with a bunt single in the 10th inning against Allen County, snapped a 15-game streak without a home run by launching the first pitch of the first inning off Cavalier starter Jeff Soptic over the right-field wall for his eighth home run of the season and a 3-2 HCC lead. Later in the inning David Longmore’s groundout scored Acosta for a 4-2 Dragon lead.

“That was the only inning we scored two runs,” HCC head coach Kyle Crookes said of the third inning. “A lot of people were feeling the same weight that Mace probably was this whole tournament. Once he got the jam job for the double for an RBI in the first, then come back and hit the home run in the third, not only was the weight lifted from his shoulders, but it lifted off everybody’s shoulders. There was a much more confident feeling in the dugout after that.”

The Dragons scored a huge insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Cornejo led off the inning with a double to right center. Two batters later he scored on Andrew Dixon’s RBI single to left for a 5-2 Hutchinson lead.

That gave HCC starter and winning pitcher Matt Williams (8-1) a comfort zone to work with. After allowing the two first-inning runs, Williams settled in to pitch 7 2-3 innings. He allowed eight hits, four earned runs. He struck out three and walked four.

Williams worked out a major jam in the fourth. Johnson County had runners on second and third with one out, but Williams struck out Ben Millard and Harrison Gerber to end the threat. The Dragons also turned two double plays in support of Williams.

“It was awesome,” Williams said of working out of the fourth-inning jam. “It felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders to get them to chase. Dan (Klein) called a great game behind the plate. After getting the first guy to chase, I felt like my stuff was good enough to get the next guy to chase.”

Johnson County scored single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to pull within 5-4. Urban came on with two outs in the eighth. Urban walked the first two batters he faced to load the bases and was facing Cavalier designated hitter Davis Morgan, who has hit 23 home runs this season. Urban got Morgan to ground out to Cornejo, who forced out Gerber at second to end the inning.

Then came a wild ninth. After Urban got the first out of the inning, Johnson County strung together three hits to load the bases. On an 0-1 pitch, Urban got the groundball double play to end the game.

“I wasn’t all that worried,” said Urban, who was credited with his ninth save of the season. “I’ve been in that situation before in the year and I trust that my defense will make the play if I get them a groundball and that’s what happened. It seemed like it took forever to turn. I saw Toby’s throw was on the money to Hoover and I ran off the field, grabbed some teammates and celebrated.”

Added Williams: “I was scared. My heart was racing. I was getting behind Andy as much as possible. The stress was building. I saw Luke catch it and go to Toby and then to Hoover, I just started going crazy.”

The Blue Dragons had eight hits and were 8 for 8 in stolen bases, with Cervantez stealing three. The Dragons also executed three sacrifice bunts.

Krol and Hoover, who had a combined three hits in the sub-regional before Tuesday, had two hits each lead to lead the Blue Dragons. Cornejo also had two hits and scored a run.

“Almost every time we got a runner to second base, we got them over to third,” Crookes said. “It was big to get our guys to second base, so we could bunt them to third, so we didn’t have to give up an out to get them just to second. It takes pressure off the hitters. The stolen base was big. Then you are not leaving the yard and getting a bunch of hits, you have to do those things to win games.”

Johnson County had 11 hits, getting two hits each from Gerber, John Calhoun, Funk and Ryan Hall. The Cavaliers stranded 13 runners on base. The Dragons left eight on base.

GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons got program win No. 997. … Andrew Dixon extended his current hitting streak to seven games. Toby Cornejo upped his hit streak to nine games. … Urban is now tied for second on HCC’s single-season saves list with nine. He is tied with Kyle Rosine (2009). Urban is now tied for fifth on the career list with Nick Figueroa (1996-97). … Matt Williams’ eighth win ties him for 19th on the single-season list. … Andrew Dixon is now alone in seventh on the career hit list with 129. He is fourth on the career stolen base list with 54. He also had his 100th career single, which is second on the career list. … Shaun Hoover set single-season records for defensive chances (407) and putouts (373). … Dan Klein now has 10 sacrifice files for the season, which ranks tied for sixth. His 12 career sac bunts, which is tied for eighth. … Luke Acosta stole his 58th career base, which is third most in HCC history. He now had 198 career defensive assists, which his fifth. … The 2010 Blue Dragons now have 49 home runs, which is tied for 10th all time. … HCC now has 152 stolen bases, which is No. 3 on the all-time list. … The eight stolen bases were second most in a single game this season.