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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Friday, April 18, 2008
Whether you are a baseball, softball,
football or golf fan, Hutchinson Community College has something for
you this weekend, and it’s all right here in the Salt City.
The HCC baseball, softball and men’s
golf teams will compete throughout the weekend with plenty on the
line for each in terms of conference titles and postseason seedings.
The Blue Dragon football team will also conclude spring workouts
with its final scrimmage on Saturday at Gowans Stadium.
Here is a brief preview of each event
this weekend.
Baseball
First place in the Jayhawk West will
be on the line when the Blue Dragon play host to No. 12 Seward
County in a crucial four-game conference series on Saturday and
Sunday at Hobart-Detter Field. Each day’s doubleheader begins at 1
p.m.
All four games will be broadcast live
on the Blue Dragon internet athletic network (www.hutchcc.edu/dragons)
beginning at 12:45 p.m. each day.
The Blue Dragons (30-11, 19-5 Jayhawk
West), winners of 30 games or more for 12-straight seasons, trail
Seward County (30-14, 20-4) by one game entering the weekend.
Hutchinson has won five in a row, 17
of its last 18 games and 14 consecutive Jayhawk West games. HCC has
swept its last three conference series against Dodge City, Garden
City and Pratt.
Pitching has been especially strong
in conference play. The Blue Dragon pitching staff has a 2.46 earned
run average in 24 Jayhawk West games. The Dragons have tossed 13
complete games and four shutouts in league games.
Offensively, the Dragons haven’t been
bad averaging 7.1 runs per game and a .318 batting average in
conference battles. Sophomore Stuart Hoover is among the nation’s
leading hitters, hitting .500 with 10 home runs and 48 RBIs. Hoover
is currently on a six-game hitting streak.
Seward County comes into the series
after a wind-aided doubleheader split with Clarendon on Wednesday.
The Saints won the opener 13-12, but lost 19-15 in Game 2.
Mikeal Husted comes in as Seward
County’s top hitter at .422. Seward County’s pitching staff has a
3.42 earned run average.
Each team will have one conference
series remaining after this weekend. Hutchinson travels to Colby
next weekend. Seward County plays host to Pratt.
Softball
Still right in the thick of the West
Sub-Regional championship chase, the HCC softball team plays Dodge
City in a key doubleheader on Friday, and then closes its home
schedule out with Sophomore Day against Western Nebraska on Sunday.
Friday’s Dodge City doubleheader will
be broadcast live on the Blue Dragon internet athletic network (www.hutchcc.edu/dragons)
beginning at 1:45 p.m.
Friday’s 2 p.m. doubleheader at Fun
Valley with Dodge City has both West Sub-Region and Jayhawk West
implications for the Lady Dragons (28-14 overall).
Hutchinson is 5-4 in the West
Sub-Region, one game behind front-runner Pratt. Dodge City (8-21
overall) is 3-6 in the sub-region. The west sub-region champion gets
a first-round bye in the Region VI Tournament next month.
HCC is currently the seventh seed in
the 13-team field.
In the Jayhawk West, the Lady Dragons
are in fourth place with two conference doubleheaders remaining with
a 7-5 record. HCC had a two-game lead over Garden City for fourth
place. HCC is bidding for its second upper-division finish in the
west in head coach Jaime Rose’s four seasons and only the third
top-four finish in the league since 1994.
HCC comes in on a roll, tying a
season-high winning streak with five, all by run rule.
During its five-game inning streak,
HCC has outscored its opponents 74-10 and out-hit its opponents
73-21. HCC hit batting .517 as a team and has raised its team
batting average 31 points to .352 over that span.
The Lady Dragons will close out its
home schedule on Sunday with a tough test against Western Nebraska.
The Cougars are 36-4 and are
receiving votes in the latest RINGOR/NJCAA Division I poll. Games
are at 1 and 3 p.m.
It will also be Sophomore Day when
the Lady Dragons will honor sophomores Jenn Tanno, Megan Hudson,
Kourtney Klein, Taryn Whitmore, Dani Torres, Jenna Schroeder,
Christina Mueller, Nicole Bauer, Nikki Lile and Shea Scanlon.
Men’s Golf
The reigning Region VI champion HCC
men will bid for its second Jayhawk Conference title in three
seasons this weekend at the newly opened Cottonwood Hills for the
final of six league tournaments. The final tournament is 54 holes,
with 36 being played on Saturday and the final 18 on Sunday.
Tee time for the first 18 holes will
be at 7:30 a.m. shotgun start. The second round will about 45
minutes after the conclusion of the first round. Then on Sunday,
groups of three will go off of No. 1 tee beginning at 8 a.m. at
10-minute intervals. HCC’s five golfers should tee off between 10
and 10:50 a.m.
HCC is currently in first place in
the Jayhawk Conference, embroiled in a three-team battle for the top
spot. HCC had 46 team points, followed by Johnson County with 45 and
Dodge City with 44 points. If HCC wins the final tournament, they
will be league champions for the second time in three seasons. If
the Dragons finish second or third, there are all kinds of scenarios
where a team playoff would be likely.
Individually, HCC freshman Wes
Nichols is in third place in the individual title race, seven points
behind Johnson County’s Mike Elafros. Sophomore Alex Wasinger, the
defending Region VI champion, is fifth in the individual race.
HCC just played a tournament at
Cottonwood Hills, playing in the Sterling College Invitational on
Monday. The Blue Dragons scored a 624 team total for 36 holes.
Sophomore Branson Real was second with a 150 and Wasinger was third
at 154.
Football
The HCC football team will conclude
its 20-day spring practice with its annual spring scrimmage at 4
p.m. on Saturday at Gowans Stadium.
The Blue Dragons have an
approximately 56-play scrimmage set as they prepare for head coach
Rion Rhoades’ second season, which begins on Aug. 30 against
Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.
Other Dragon Teams in action
The HCC men’s and women’s track teams
will be in action all weekend beginning Friday at the annual
prestigious KU Relays at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence. All-America
sprinter Teddy Poole and javelin thrower Jordan Teeter, who has the
longest throw in junior college this season, highlight a strong HCC
contingent at one of college track’s premiere events.
The Blue Dragon men’s and women’s
tennis teams will compete in the Region VI championships this
weekend in Wichita. |
