LIBERAL, Kan. - A solo home run in the top of the third inning of game one by
Talon Schaller tied the single-season home run record at Dodge City Community College as the Conquistadors would lose 11-7 before rebounding with an 8-4 game two win against Seward County Community College at Brent Gould Field in Liberal on Sunday, April 23rd.
Standing with an overall record of 33-15-1 and 18-10 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference, DC3 has clinched a home NJCAA Region VI Tournament Playoff series while the Saints fell to 17-32 overall and 10-18 in the KJCCC.
Pitching would be suspect at best in game one as Dodge City would put up three runs to start off the game with a
Jake Pederson two-RBI double and Schaller sacrifice fly providing the damage. SCCC would respond with six runs of their own, chasing DC3 starter
Joe Buckendorff out of the game after just one third of an inning with
Eric Lindsay coming on in relief. The Saints six runs wound up coming on three hits and one Conquistador error.
DC3 would pick up solo runs in the third and fourth innings on home runs by Schaller and
Cade Engle to cut the lead to 6-5, but a resilient Seward squad would deliver another big inning by putting up five runs on five hits in the bottom of the fourth to claim their largest lead of the weekend at 11-5.
Dodge City would collect a pair of runs in the top of the fifth when
Dauson Tate would hit the third home run of the day for the Conquistadors to drive in Schaller and pull DC3 within four at 11-7 with eight outs still to work with.
Things would get no closer for the Conquistadors, dropping their first game of the series and watching a five-game winning streak snapped and the chance to clinch the series being pushed back to game four.
Buckendorff would take the loss to drop to 3-5 as Lindsay (2.2 innings) and
Gavin Gifford (3.0) would combine to give up five runs on seven hits in the final six and two-thirds innings. Each team would record nine hits in the game with Pederson, Schaller, and Tate each driving in two runs. Engle and
Jon Coss swiped one bag each in the loss.
A shutdown performance by starter
Cole Brandon would end up the story of game two for the Conquistadors as Seward would take a 1-0 lead after two innings of play before DC3 would finally get the bats going with Engle breaking up a no-hitter with two outs in the top of the third before coming around to score on a Tate two-RBI single to give Dodge City a 2-1 lead.
After
Robert Perea would hit an RBI single to drive home
Richard Fullerton with one out in the top of the fourth,
Cole Bergdall would get in on the long ball action by blasting a two-run home run to push the Conquistador lead out to 5-1 and put DC3 in full control.
Fullerton's chance to send one over the outfield wall would come in the top of the fifth as the sophomore would hit his fifth home run of the year to drive in Schaller and make the score 7-1 before the Saints would turn a leadoff single into a run in the bottom of the frame.
An insurance run for DC3 would come home in the top of the eighth on a Pederson sacrifice fly to make the score 8-2 as SCCC would pick one more run in the bottom of the ninth before a game-ending strikeout.
Brandon tossed 7.1 innings and struck out four while scattering nine hits and three runs before
Dalton Harvey would come on in relief. The sophomore would toss the final inning and two thirds, allowing one run on one hit while fanning four. Fullerton would lead the Conquistadors with three hits in five plate appearances and drive in two while Pederson would draw two walks. Four of Dodge City's 10 hits would go for extra bases.
Non-conference action comes to a close on Wednesday for DC3, traveling to Borger, Texas for a 2 p.m. doubleheader at Frank Phillips College. Through 26 non-conference games this year, Dodge City is 15-5-1 overall.
