STEVE CARPENTER
HutchCC Sports Information
MANHATTAN – After surviving one elimination game of the Plains District (Region VI) Tournament on Thursday, the Hutchinson Community College baseball team saw its season end on Thursday night at Tointon Family Stadium.
The Blue Dragons were held to just two hits and Johnson County erupted for 10 runs in the second inning as Hutchinson fell 12-2 in five innings in the Blue Dragons’ second game of the day.
Earlier on Thursday, Ben Dandelet tossed a complete game in a 5-2 elimination game victory over the Butler Grizzlies, which made the Blue Dragons the lone-remaining Jayhawk West team in the tournament.
Leading 1-0 through one inning, the Blue Dragons used three pitchers to get out of the tough second inning in which Johnson County sent 13 batters to the plate and scored 10 runs on six hits, including two home runs.
Starting pitcher Luke Hornberger (4-1) suffered his first loss of the season, going 1 1-3 inning. Kaden Wickersham and Brady Beverman also pitched the second inning. Reed Scott worked 1 2-3 innings of perfect relief with two strikeouts.
The Blue Dragons took a 1-0 lead with a two-out walk to Sterling Sutcliffe and a double by Ryan Henderson to the left-center field gap.
Hutchinson’s second run didn’t come until the fourth when Jack Torosian was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a passed ball and third on a wild pitch. Torosian scored on Bryce Logan’s sacrifice fly to right field.
Henderson and Logan tallied the only hits for the Blue Dragons.
The Blue Dragons were four games under .500 on March 15, but closed the season winning 31 of their final 43 games to finish the season 38-23.