Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

DODGE CITY, Kan. -- The odds of the Dodge City Community College baseball team earning a doubleheader split were rapidly fading as it clung to a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the ninth of game two with Seward County runners on first and second and clean-up hitter Logan Nethercot at the plate with two outs. 

However, Conquistador closer Carter Hogan buckled down and got the left-handed hitting Nethercot to ground out to second base to secure the 6-5 win and split Saturday's doubleheader at Cavalier Field after falling in game one, 4-1.

More importantly, it got DC3 (39-15, 18-12) a win away from clinching fourth place in the KJCCC West and a home best-of-three series for the opening round of the Region VI Tournament. If the Conqs at least split with Seward on Sunday, DC3 will hold off the Saints (29-23, 17-11) and secure fourth place (the top four teams from each division host in the first round). But if Seward takes both games Sunday, it will finish fourth via head-to-head tiebreaker and the Conqs will hit the road for the opening round of the Region VI Tournament.

"We want to win two tomorrow, but the bottom line is if we want to stay ahead of (Seward) we have to win one to stay at home," DC3 coach Phil Stephenson said. "We just got to get it going from the start because it's going to be another cold and windy day in Dodge City."

In game two, the Conqs started strong as a two-run second inning highlighted by an Ivan Gonzalez RBI single put DC3 ahead 2-0.

Conq lefty Jay Rawlins retired the first nine batters he faced before Seward was able to get two runs off of the DC3 ace in the fourth inning to tie the game, 2-2.

But DC3 answered in the fourth as an RBI double by Max Laney set up a two-run home run by Jake Pederson through the wind in right field to give the Conqs a 5-2 advantage. It was Pederson's third homer of the season.

The Conqs added another in the fifth to take a 6-2 advantage before a two-run home run by Seward's Chad Kennedy cut DC3's lead in half to 6-4.

The Saints tacked on a run in the seventh to make it 6-5 before Dalton Harvey tossed a scoreless eighth and Hogan was able to work around a pair of one-out singles to pick up his KJCCC-leading 11th save of the season.

Rawlins got the win to move to 8-3, going seven innings and giving up five runs (four earned) on eight hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

"Jay pitched well for us," Stephenson said. "He only made that one mistake and the guy hit it out for the two-run homer. Harvey came in and threw well and Hogan made things a little scary at the end, but he got it done. His biggest thing is just getting a rhythm going because when he does, he's pretty good."

Eight of the nine DC3 hitters in the lineup got a hit with only Richard Fullerton finishing with more than one, going 2-for-4 with a run. Pederson and Colbey Madewell each drove in two for the Conqs.

Adam Keller got the loss for the Saints, going the distance and giving up six runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and four walks.

Kennedy finished 2-for-4 with three RBI for Seward while Errett Edwards was 3-for-5 with two runs.

In game one the Conqs scored a run and loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning against Seward ace Jakob Hernandez - the NJCAA leader in strikeouts. But the Conqs struck out three times to end the frame and only managed one hit from that point on in a 4-1 loss.

Hernandez went the distance for Seward, giving up a run on three hits with 13 strikeouts and four walks to move to 9-3 on the season - giving the left-hander 149 strikeouts in 82.1 innings.

"Hernandez was as good as advertised," Stephenson said. "He struck out double digits again and we just couldn't figure him out after that first inning. If we would've found a way to push a crooked number across in that first inning it could've been a different ballgame."

Layne Downing was strong on the mound for the Conqs, but a three-run fourth inning by the Saints gave them a 4-1 advantage - more than enough for Hernandez.

Downing picked up the loss, going the distance and giving up four runs on six hits with one strikeout and two walks.

Colton Onstott went 1-for-3 with an RBI for the Conqs while Madewell and Laney had the other DC3 hits.

Kennedy and Edwards each had two hits and an RBI for the Saints.

The Conqs and Saints play the final two games of the series starting 1 p.m. Sunday at Cavalier Field.