Dodge City baseball after a pair of offensive showcases on Thursday hit the road to wrap up the series with the Colby Trojans on Saturday and would claim the series behind a split of the doubleheader on the road. 

The Conquistadors would drop the first game in Colby falling 6-3 but responded with a 12-5 win in the series finale to take three of four in the series. The series win is the first for the Conqs over Colby since 2017. 

The split moves the Conqs to 18-18 overall on the season and 10-6 in KJCCC action. 

Up next the Conqs will have the off week from conference action and will play a pair of non-conference doubleheaders as they will travel to Alva, Oklahoma on Monday, April 3rd to play Northwestern Oklahoma State JV and then will host Otero on Wednesday, April 5th. 

Game 1 – Lost 6-3 at Colby 
Just like the first two games of the series, it was the early offense for the Colby but unlike the first two games of the series, the Conqs were unable to overcome the early runs by the Trojans in the lowest-scoring game of the series. Colby tallied a run in the first inning and then had a big four-run second inning to lead 5-0 and while the Conqs offense struggled to get going in the sixth the game tightened up. Cooper Schneider smacked a three-run home run to draw the Conqs within two runs, but Colby answered with a run in the bottom of the sixth. The Conqs would be unable to get on the board again and fell 6-3. 

In the loss, Schneider was 2-3 with three RBI, a home run, and a run scored, while Donnie Rhyne added a 2-3 game with two doubles and a walk. Ethan Hewell and Cooper Tomkinson each added a hit for the Conqs in the loss.  

Game 2 – Won 12-5 at Colby  
The series finale once again saw Colby take the initial lead by scoring a run in the bottom of the first but after a pair of scoreless innings in the first and second, the Conqs would score at least one run in every half inning at the plate the rest of the game. The Conqs got on the board and took the lead in the top of the third as a sac-fly by Nick Mesquita and an RBI single by Zandt Payne scored two runs for the Conqs. In the top of the fourth Tomkinson added to the Conqs lead with an RBI single and then Rhyne blasted a two-run home run in the fifth inning for the Conqs. The sixth saw Rhyne strike again for the Conqs with an RBI base hit to make it 6-1 but Colby tightened the game up with a four-run output in the bottom of the sixth to make it a one-run game. Conqs would get some insurance scoring a run in the seventh off an RBI double by Peter Tassler and then scoring four more in the eighth behind a two-RBI double by Pyane, and RBI doubles by Caden Matlon and Tassler. In the ninth, the Conqs would get on the board one final time and then shut the door in the bottom of the ninth to secure the 12-5 win. 
Matlon paced a 13-hit attack for the Conqs as he was 3-4 with three runs scored, three doubles, an RBI, and a walk. Payne added a 2-5 game with a double, three RBI, and a run scored, while Tomkinson was 2-3 with two runs scored, an RBI, a stolen base, and a walk. Tassler also had a multi-hit game going 2-5 with two doubles and two RBI, while Rhyne added a 2-4 game with a run scored, three RBI, and a home run. 

Michael DeBattista earned the win by tossing 5.1 innings of work and recording seven strikeouts, while Brian Hallum had a strong 3.2 innings to finish out the game earning the save giving up just one run on two hits and one walk while striking out four.