Jay Daubenberger

Liberal, Kansas – Seward County connected on a multitude of big hits throughout their doubleheader against Hutchinson on Sunday afternoon and despite knocking out three home run bombs in game two, the Saints were unable to hold back the Blue Dragons who scorched their way in front and never looked back to take the series over SCCC 4-0.  The Blue Dragons took game one 16-7 and 18-10 in game two.  HCC had 20 hits in each game.

Seward County fell behind early in game one and spent all seven innings crawling back from a 10-0 deficit after the first three innings. Connor Raney finally managed to put the Saints on the board in the bottom of the third as he singled on a ground ball to drive in Kokaro Wakui for SCCC’s first run which Mason Gilbert and Brock Sundlie helped add to with some big swings of their own to make it 10-4 entering the fourth. Hutchinson matched the Saints efforts as they added four more runs to their total in the fourth and another run in the fifth to make it 15-4 and enter run rule territory that could end the first game earlier than expected. Seward County did not allow the Blue Dragons to end it early as they scored three more runs in the fifth capitalized by a double from Mason Hagel-Pitt to right field to cut the Saints’ deficit to 15-7. Game one ended up going the distance through all seven innings, but Seward County could never push in front as a final run for Hutchinson made it 16-7 for the final score.

The Blue Dragons flew ahead of the Saints once again to start game two with a 5-0 lead before SCCC managed to cut their deficit down to three with a double from Gilbert to drive in two runs for Seward County. A home run bomb for the Saints in the bottom of the third gave Seward County their first lead of the day at 6-5 over Hutchinson but a solo home run by the Blue Dragons in the following inning tied it back up aat 6-6. SCCC retook the lead off a single from Hagel-Pitt combined with a strong hit from Nathan Hopkins in the fifth to extend it to two at 8-6 until three runs from Hutch in the sixth allowed them to retake the lead and the Saints never led again. Gilbert slammed out a home run of his own in the eighth while Hagel-Pitt hit one of his own out in the ninth but could never climb back as they fell to the Blue Dragons 18-10 in game two.

Seward County now falls to an 18-21 overall record for the 2024 season while sitting at 6-10 in KJCCC action after being swept by Hutchinson. They will now begin another conference series on Thursday when they face the Garden City Broncbusters at home for the first two games of the four-game series with the first pitch taking place at 1:00 PM with the Dugout Show at 12:45 on 1270 and 92.3.