Conquistadors Go 3-1 in Weekend Series with Hesston

The Dodge City Community College baseball program engaged in a four-game series this weekend with fellow KJCCC member, the Hesston College Larks.

The Conquistadors took two games when they traveled to the NJCAA DII member on Saturday, then split with the Larks when Hesston came to Cavalier Field for two more games on Sunday.

Dodge City won games one and two on in Hesston, Kansas by scores of 6-1 and 15-2. They dropped game one on Sunday to the Larks 8-7 but bounced back to take game two 11-7, finishing the weekend 3-1 overall.

"You're always happy when you win," said head coach Phil Stephenson. "We played pretty well Saturday. I thought we pitched it well and played tough defense. It's tough to get hits when the wind is blowing in but we still managed to score 21 runs. On Sunday, we forgot the game started at 1 o'clock and by the time we got to 2 o'clock, we already found ourselves down 6-0. We almost dug ourselves out of it but that game one deficit was just too big a hole to get out of. We didn't pitch particularly well Sunday outside of Tristian Wolf and our defense wasn't very good. At the end of the day, though, its always good when you win three or four out of a four game series."

Offensively, the Conquistadors were led by the hot-bat of Kory Schmidt. Schmidt, who won NJCAA Player of the Week honors earlier this year, went 5-12 in the four games with two homeruns and 10 RBIs. Seth Ochoa added a 6-7 week, while getting walked six times and hit by two pitches. All in all, Ochoa was able to reach base 12 out of the 13 times he stepped up to the plate. He turned that into six runs scored and three RBIs.

The weekend statistics add to what has already been a productive year for the duo. Ochoa is first on the team in batting average (.500) and Schmidt is second on the team in the category (.471). Schmidt is first on the team with eight homeruns and Ochoa is third with five. The two are tied with Noah Thompson for first in runs scored as they all have 26.

Ethan Baptie and Jaxon McCaw provided the major highlights, both in game two at Hesston. Baptie hit a grand slam homerun as a part of his 3-7 weekend with five RBIs. McCaw was able to score a rare inside the park homerun during the 15-2 drubbing of the Larks.

Tristian Wolf, Mathis Mauldin, and Tanner Eyre all picked up wins over the weekend. The wins put Eyre at 2-1 (4.0 ERA) on the year, Wolf at 1-0 (0.00 ERA), and Mauldin at 1-1 (9.26 ERA).

The wins move Dodge City to 12-4 on the year as they remain 2-2 in the KJCCC West. The Conquistadors are back in action when they return to KJCCC West play by welcoming the Barton Cougars to town for a Thursday evening doubleheader. First pitch is slated for 3:00 pm at Cavalier Field. Fans are welcome.