Dodge City baseball hit the road on Tuesday for a non-conference doubleheader against Otero and came home with a split taking game one 17-5 in five innings and falling 14-12 in game two.
The split moves the Conquistadors to 17-16 on the season as they now turn their attention back to conference play as they open a series with Pratt starting on the road Thursday, April 7th, and then at home on Saturday, April 9th.
Game 1 – at Otero Won 17-5 (5 innings)
It was early and often offense for the Conqs in game one as they would pick up the lopsided win over Otero in the contest. Conqs broke through early as
Zandt Payne launched a solo home run for the first run of the game and added another as
Trevor Blackwell had a double in the inning and ultimately came around to score on a wild pitch. Otero tied the game up at 2-2 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third, but the Conqs answered in the top of the third as they worked the bases loaded and
Aidan Proctor drew a walk to score a run and then five more runs were added on top of that to make it 8-2.
Caden Matlon and Blackwell each hit home runs to highlight the third inning for the Conqs. Otero managed to get three runs of their own in the bottom of the third making it 8-5 after three innings.
Conqs did the rest of the scoring in the game plating six runs in the fourth led by a two-run
Trent Trammell home run, an
Erubiel Duron RBI double, Proctor RBI single, and Payne's two-run home run. In the fifth
Nathan Szymanski and
Kyler Copeland got into the home run party each connecting on one to score three more runs lifting the Conqs to the 17-5 win in five innings.
Leading the Conqs 15-hit attack was Payne who went 3-4 with two home runs, two runs scored, and three RBI. Ten of the Conqs 15 hits went for extra bases including seven home runs. Szymanski was strong at the plate going 2-2 with a home run, double, three runs scored, two RBI, and two walks. While Trammell went 2-2 with two runs scored, a home run, and two RBI. Matlon and Blackwell each added a multi-hit game for the Conqs.
Mathis Mauldin earned the win tossing two innings, while
Kyle Gscheidle finished out the game tossing three scoreless innings giving up just one hit and one walk and struck out six.
Game 2 – at Otero Lost 14-12
Like game one the second game of the day saw early offense by both teams but unlike the first game, it was both teams scored throughout the contest. The Conqs took advantage of some early errors in the top of the first inning to score a pair of runs but Otero countered with two in the bottom of the inning. In the second inning, the Conqs tallied four runs again taking advantage of some Otero miscues with a two-RBI double by
Cooper Tomkinson highlighting the inning. A
Camden Thrailkill RBI double got the Conqs another run in the third inning while Otero scored two in the bottom of the frame to make 7-4. After a scoreless fourth the Conqs were back on the board in the fifth scoring three, but Otero tallied five and then five more in the bottom of the sixth to give them the lead. Down to the final three outs, the Conqs got two runs back but fell short of tying or regaining the lead as the contest ended 14-12 in favor of Otero.
At the plate, a 3-5 showing by Proctor paced the Conqs as he had three runs scored, an RBI, and three doubles.
Braden Dedrick added a 2-3 game with a run scored, three RBI, a walk, and two doubles. Thrailkill went 1-1 with three runs scored, an RBI, double, and three walks.
On the mound, six different guys saw action for the Conqs in the contest.
