STEVE CARPENTER - Hutchinson CC Sports Information
EDMOND, Okla. – The Hutchinson Community College baseball team out-hit NEO on Saturday, but the Golden Norse were able to do way more damage with their hits than the Blue Dragons.
Six Blue Dragon pitchers walked a combined 12 batters and hit one as NEO used a four-run third inning and a seven-run fourth to defeat Hutchinson 15-9 on Saturday in the final game for the Dragons at the UCO Juco Festival.
The Blue Dragons went 1-2 in the UCO Juco Festival and fall to 3-2 overall. Hutchinson will now travel to Labette for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Monday in Parsons. This doubleheader was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but was moved up to Monday because of potential bad weather on Tuesday in southeast Kansas.
The 12 walks allowed tied for the fourth most allowed in Blue Dragon single-game history. The last time the Dragons walked at least 12 in a game was April 12, 2018 at MCC-Longview. Seven of those walks came around to score.
Another tough stat against the Dragons on Saturday was NEO scored nine of their 15 runs after two were out. All seven runs in the Norse fourth came after two were out.
Sophomore Zach Firmature (1-1) took his first loss of the season with runs earned runs, three hits and three walks allowed in three innings of work. Firmature strike out five. The bullpen of Tyler Delong, Cade Fenton, Josh Mitchell, Hunter Waugh and Eli Riggs struggled with a combined five hits, 10 earned runs and nine walks.
Freshman Cade Argo tied a Blue Dragon individual high with five RBIs in a game, matching Luke Sartori's five against Redlands on Friday. Argo went 2 for 4 with a triple and home run.
Sophomores Will Reetz and Jenner Steele both homered for the Blue Dragons. Steele went 2 for 4, adding a double with his first career home run. Austin Callahan also had two hits for Hutchinson.
Tyler Small and Augustus Collins each homered for NEO and drove in four runs each.
Hutchinson out-hit NEO 9-8.
The Blue Dragons got off to a great start with Argo's two-run triple in the top of the first inning. Will Reetz led off the second with a home run to make it 3-1 Hutchinson.
NEO then scored 14 runs in its final four offensive innings of the seven-inning contest. The Dragons scored single tallies in the fourth and fifth before a four-run uprising in the sixth. Callahan singled home Mason Lowe, then Argo homered to center field, scoring Sartori and Callahan to pull the Blue Dragons within 13-9.