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By Bret Mitchell
HCC Sports
Information
Saturday, May 10,
2008
WICHITA
– The Hutchinson Community College baseball team took advantage of a strong
wind on Saturday, pounding out five extra-base hits on the way to a 9-5
Region VI Tournament first-round victory over Fort Scott on Saturday at
Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.
The
Blue Dragons (39-14) won a first-round game for the first time in Wichita
since winning the 2005 Region VI championship. The Blue Dragons will meet
Cowley College in a winner’s bracket semifinal at 7 p.m. on Sunday.
Freshman Trever Adams had a season-high four RBIs, going 2 for 4, including
a two-run triple to lead HCC’s 10-hit attack. Adam’s two-run opposite-field
triple highlighted a three-run third inning. His two-run single in the
fourth capped off a five-run inning.
Sophomores Clint Bieberle, Eric DeBlanc and Matthew Yerby all had two hits
each. DeBlanc and Yerby both had triples. Redshirt-freshman Adam Roy had a
two-run double in HCC’s five-run fourth inning. The Dragons were aided by a
strong northwest wind in the third and fourth innings. The Dragons drove
several opposite field shots to right field over the head of Fort Scott
rightfielders.
Blue
Dragon ace Mitch Stubenhofer (9-1) went five innings to earn the victory.
Stubenhofer had to battle, allowing a season high-tying five runs on five
hits. He struck out four and walked four.
The
Blue Dragon bullpen – Zach Biery, Kyle Rosine and Ryan Scoles - threw four
scoreless innings of relief.
Biery
allowed two hits in 1 1-3 innings. Rosine made a huge pitch to coax an
inning-ending double play in the seventh after the Greyhounds loaded the
bases against Biery with one out. Scoles then struck out five and walked two
over the final two innings to close out the game.
“Mitch battled out of a couple situations, and Rosine made a big pitch to
their best hitter,” HCC head coach Kyle Crookes said.
After
going scoreless for the first two innings, the Dragons finally broke through
against Fort Scott starter Dan Huff in the third.
With
two out, DeBlanc tripled over the held of the Greyhound rightfielder and was
driven in by sophomore Stewart Hoover for a 1-0 lead. After a Roy walk,
Adams then used the strong northwest wind to burn the Fort Scott right
fielder again to score two runs and give Hutch a 3-0 lead.
Fort
Scott answered with one run in the top of the fourth. The inning could have
been bigger. Fort Scott had runners on first and second with no outs. HCC
catcher Matt LaGree then threw out Fort Scott’s Jason Houston on a steal
attempt of third for the first out. Stubenhofer then struck out the next
batter and ended the inning with minimal damage on a groundout to shortstop
Ben Ferrell.
The
Blue Dragons responded with five more in their half of the fourth. An RBI
single by Bieberle and back-to-back two-run hits by Roy and Adams helped
Hutchinson build an 8-1 lead after four innings. HCC batted around in the
inning, with the benefit of five hits, one walk and an error by right
fielder Travis Cruz.
“I
think two of the three he probably could have done better with, but we’ll
take it,” Crookes said of Fort Scott’s outfield miscues. “Our guys did a
good job, hit it to the part of the park where it would be tough to field
it.”
Fort
Scott rallied with four more in the top of the fifth against Stubenhofer to
pull within 9-5. From there, the bullpen shut out the Greyhounds over the
final four innings.
Biery
relieved Stubenhofer in the sixth inning. After a strong sixth, Biery worked
into trouble in the seventh, loading the bases with two out after two
infield singles and a hit batter. He gave way to Rosine, who was able to get
a ground ball double play from No. 4 hitters Trevor Geist to end the threat.
Scoles finished the final two innings, although it was not a save situation.
Scoles gave up no hits and two walks, while striking out five.
Dan
Huff takes the loss for Fort Scott, pitching just 3.1 innings and giving up
eight runs, seven earned.
GAME NOTES
– The Hutchinson offense again proved efficient on Saturday, using three
sacrifices and four stolen bases to move runners along. Matthey Yerby even
recorded his first sacrifice bunt of the season, from the ninth spot in the
lineup. … Five more Blue Dragons were hit with pitches on Saturday, bringing
the team-record season total to 126 for the season. …Saturday’s game was the
first time the two teams had met on the season, with the two previous dates
being cancelled because of rain. … Coming into the game, Stubenhofer had
allowed just 12 walks all season, but gave up four against Fort Scott. … The
last first-round game HCC played in Wichita was in 2006, a 7-4 14-inning
loss to Seward County.
<HCC-FORT SCOTT BOXSCORE>
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach Kyle Crookes
On
the Fort Scott outfield play …
On
Huff, who was previously undefeated …
“It’s
hard when you expect to get outs on something, but our kids took advantage
of the mistakes.”
Outfielder Mitch Stubenhofer
On
his outfield adjustments …
“Just
watching the other guys, it looked like it was pretty tough. I played a
little deeper, and a little closer to the line.”
Third Baseman Trever Adams
On
the hitting approach …
“The
umpire was giving the corner early. We just hit it where the coaches wanted
us to hit it.”
On
Huff’s performance …
“He
showed a little negative emotion out there, and once they went to their
bullpen they really had to pitch around us.”
On
playing the late game on Sunday …
“We
got a lot of non-early risers on this team, and we really wanted to win
today to play at seven tomorrow." |
