Box Score Box Score (Game 1)DODGE CITY, Kan. -- Two quick starts paired with strong pitching and defense gave the defending Region VI champion Dodge City Community College baseball a season-opening sweep of the Oklahoma Panhandle State University junior varsity, 10-0 and 4-0, on Tuesday at Cavalier Field.
The Conqs (2-0) scored a combined nine runs in the first two innings of game one and a pair of runs in the opening frame of game two to take early leads that were more than enough for a DC3 pitching staff. The Conq pitchers in a combined 13 innings allowed eight hits, walked one and struck out 19 while the defense only committed one error behind them.
"
Pitching and defense did what we expected them to do," DC3 coach Phil Stephenson said. "We know that we may not get that all the time, but that's what we expected today."In game one the Conqs got on the board right away as a
Jake Pederson lead-off single quickly turned into a run after the next hitter
Frankie Valle drove him home on a double to make it 1-0.
It was the start of a six-run first inning for the Conqs as
Richard Fullerton,
Ricky Trammell and
Trevor Close drove in runs during the frame.
DC3 followed it up with three runs in the second highlighted by a
Jason Nichols two-run triple to give the Conqs a 9-0 advantage.
DC3 was held scoreless for the next three innings before the Conqs ended the contest via 10-run mercy rule in the bottom of the sixth when
Talon Schaller scored on a wild pitch.
At the plate, Valle finished 3-for-4 for DC3 while Fullerton and Trammell had two hits apiece.
Five Conq pitchers combined in the five-hit shutout:
Layne Downing (IP, H, K),
Jay Rawlins (2 IP, H, 3 Ks),
Joshua Hill (IP),
Hayden Davey (IP, 2 Ks) and
Carter Hogan (IP, 2 H).
In game two, the Conqs again came out strong in the first inning with an RBI triple by Fullerton and an RBI single by
Andres Acuna giving DC3 a 2-0 advantage.
The Conqs managed just two more runs in the game, though they were both exciting.
Max Laney drilled a triple to the right-center field gap in the fifth inning and scored on the play when the Aggie outfielder overthrew the cut-off man to push the DC3 lead to 3-0.
In the sixth, DC3 freshman
Robert Perea pinch hit, and in his first collegiate at-bat, blasted a ball over the left field wall to make it 4-0.
Four DC3 pitchers combined for the shutout in game two:
Matthew Perea (2 IP, H, 4 Ks, BB),
Cole Brandon (2 IP, H, K),
Dalton Harvey (2 IP, 5 Ks) and
Jeremy Hidalgo (IP, H, 3 Ks).
Fullerton finished the second game 3-for-4 while
Ivan Gonzalez, Laney and Pederson had two hits apiece.
While the Conqs collected double-digit hits in each contest, Stephenson said the team in the future will need some of those to be timely hits.
"After the first inning of each game, we left a lot of people on base," Stephenson said. "They made some mistakes and we were able to take advantage of them. Overall though, I don't think we swung it too well. ... There are some things we will work on (at practice)."
The Conqs head south for a four-day trip to Hobbs, N.M., where they will face New Mexico Military Institute at New Mexico Junior College's field for four games from Friday through Sunday then face the University of the Southwest JV on Monday.
