It was an offensive party for the Dodge City baseball team on Thursday in Pratt to open the KJCCC series with the Beavers as the Conquistadors scored 38 runs on 38 hits in a pair of victories.
The Conqs picked up 16-8 and 22-15 wins over Pratt to improve to 19-16 on the season and 9-9 in KJCCC action. The nine conference wins are the most since 2018.
Conqs will look to continue their momentum against Pratt when the Beavers come to Dodge City on Saturday, April 9th to wrap the series for a doubleheader that will start at 1:00 pm.
Game 1 – at Pratt Won 16-8
Conqs broke through early in game one taking the lead 3-0 in the top of the second inning after
Weston Symes and
Camden Thrailkill each drew walks and then
Cale Blasi smacked a three-run homer. Pratt would tie the game up in the bottom of the third with a three-run home run of their own, but the Conqs answered with a seven-run top of the fourth to go up 11-3.
Caden Matlon hit a grand slam home run to highlight the seven-run output in the fourth as the Conqs took advantage of multiple Pratt miscues, also. After Pratt tallied a run in the bottom of the fourth the scoring continued for the Conqs in the fifth as Matlon belted his second home run this one a solo shot making it 12-4. Pratt tagged the Conqs for two runs in the bottom of the fifth and two in the sixth also making it 12-8 but in the top of the seventh, the Conqs added some insurance runs with a four-spot with RBI singles by Thrailkill and Symes highlighting the inning and the Conqs went on to secure the 16-8 win.
Leading the 16-hit attack for the Conqs was
Kory Schmidt who went 3-5 with two runs scored, along with Matlon who was 2-4 with two home runs, five RBI, two runs scored, and a walk. Blasi finished 2-4 with five RBI, two runs scored, and a home run, while Thrailkill was 2-3 with two runs scored, two RBI, and a walk.
Aidan Proctor,
Jake Miller, and Symes each added a two-hit game for the Conqs.
Shea Walker earned the win on the mound tossing all seven innings.
Game 2 – at Pratt Won 22-15
The offensive party continued for the Conqs in game two to the tune of 22 runs on 22 hits against Pratt. Conqs wasted little time taking the lead as Blasi with two outs notched an RBI single and then
Zandt Payne added a two-RBI double to make it 3-0 in the first inning. After
Adam Walker struck out the side in the bottom of the first the Conqs tallied three more runs in the top of the second this time on a three-run homer from
Trevor Blackwell. The lead grew in the third as Symes hit a two-run home run and Matlon tattooed his third homer of the day scoring three making it 11-0. After two more runs in the fifth to move the lead to 13-0 the Conqs saw Pratt breakthrough offensively plating seven in the inning. Conqs answered with three runs on a Pratt error in the sixth, but the Beavers tallied two in the bottom of the seventh. After a run in the eighth for the Conqs, Pratt scored four making it 17-13 entering the ninth. Conqs put up a five-spot in the top of the ninth behind a two-RBI double from Symes, a two-RBI single by Blackwell, and an RBI single by Wright. Pratt notched a pair in the bottom of the ninth, but it was not enough as the Conqs won 22-15.
Eight Conqs finished with two or more hits as the team recorded 22 hits with 10 being extra-base hits. Blackwell went 3-5 with five RBI, five runs scored, a walk, double, home run, stolen base, and hit by a pitch. Wright added a 3-6 showing with three RBI, a double, hit by pitch, stolen base, and two runs scored. Symes had two hits with four RBI and pair of runs scored, while Thrailkill and Matlon each had two hits. Proctor, Blasi, and
Justin Dunlap all had a three-hit contest.
Adam Walker tossed five innings to earn the win and recorded 10 strikeouts while
Justus Revill finished the game throwing the final four innings.
