By STEVE CARPENTER - Hutchinson CC Sports Information
DODGE CITY – The Hutchinson Community College baseball team had plenty to celebrate on Thursday at Cavalier Field.
The Blue Dragons took care of their own business with wins of 12-0 in five innings and 17-3 over the Conquistadors. Those wins, combined with Game 1 losses by Seward County, Butler and Cloud County, meant Hutchinson won the Jayhawk West championship, winning a league title for the 13th time in program history.
The Game 2 win turned out to be a milestone victory for Blue Dragon head coach Ryan Schmidt, who surpassed John Burgi as the program's coaching wins' leader. Schmidt now has 315 victories and four Jayhawk West titles (2014, 2017, 2019, 2021) in the Blue Dragon dugout. Schmidt is 315-166 in nine seasons with the Blue Dragons. Burgi had 314 wins from 1991-2000 and coached three West championship teams.
The 2021 Blue Dragons are now 34-14 heading into Saturday's regular-season finale at Hobart-Detter Field against Dodge City – first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. With the conference title, Hutchinson also became a Region VI sub-regional tournament site host. The four-team, double-elimination sub-regional starts next Friday, May 14 at Hobart-Detter Field.
The Blue Dragons' high-scoring offense returned to form on Thursday with two home runs in Game 1 and seven more in Game 2. The seven home run in the second game tied for the second most in Blue Dragon single-game history, but they aren't a season high. The Dragons hit a school-record eight home runs at State Fair on March 9.
Now with 86 home runs for the season, the 2021 Blue Dragons tied the 2018 Dragons for the third-most home runs in a season.
Austin Callahan hit his 18th home run of the season in Game 2. He is now fourth on the Hutchinson single-season home run list. His 21 career home runs moved him into the career Top 10. Callahan is tied for ninth with Josh O'Dell (2002-03), Matt Rebout (2001-02) and Matt McKay (1991-92).
Jack Torosian and Ben McLaughlin became the sixth and seventh different Blue Dragons this season with multi-home run games. Both hit a pair of home runs in Game 2 on Thursday.
Torosian hit Hutchinson's seventh grand slam this season, which extends an ongoing team record. Torosian also had six RBIs in Game 2, which ties him for seventh in Blue Dragon single-game history. This is the fourth time this season a Blue Dragon player has registered six or more RBIs in a game.
GAME 1 RECAP
Will Reetz and Tyler Delong hit back-to-back home runs in the first-inning that staked Blue Dragon starting pitcher Zach Firmature to a five-run lead before taking the mound on Thursday. Firmature (8-3) did the rest in the series opener.
Firmature tossed his first career complete-game shutout in Game 1. Over five innings, Firmature allowed just three hits, walked none and hit one Dodge City batter. He struck out five in the game, working 1-2-3 innings in the second and fourth frames. The only time Firmature had multiple runners on base was the fifth. Only one Dodge City batter reached second.
The Blue Dragons out-hit Dodge City 8-3, but took advantage of four Conquistador errors and five Dodge City walks in the opening game.
Hutch scored five runs in the first, one in the second and six more in the third. Eleven of the 12 runs scored in Game 1 were unearned.
Callahan and Jenner Steele had two hits each. Reetz had three RBIs with his first-inning three-run home run.
GAME 2 RECAP
Trailing 2-0 after one inning, the Blue Dragons immediately answers with second-inning solo home runs by McLaughlin and Jon Jenkins to tie the game at 2-2. Back-to-back two-out homers by Mason Lowe and Callahan in the fourth gave Hutchinson a 4-2 in the fifth.
The Blue Dragons then erupted for 13 runs in their final three at-bats, including an eight-run ninth inning.
McLaughlin's two-run homer in the seventh upped the Dragon lead to 7-2. Torosian hit a two-run home run in the eighth to make it 9-2. Torosian hit a grand slam as part of the big ninth inning for Hutchinson.
Lowe went 3 for 5 with a home run, double, three runs scored and two RBIs. Steele went 3 for 6 as part of an 18-hit Hutchinson attack. Delong also had a season-high three hits.
Torosian was 2 for 6 with two homers and six RBIs. McLaughlin was 2 for 3 with three runs and three RBIs. Reetz and Jenkins had two hits each.
Pitcher Sammy Sanchez recovered from giving up those first-inning home runs with seven strong innings for his eighth win of the season. He allowed just three hits and two earned runs with six strikeouts and two walks.