Dodge City baseball opened the second KJCCC series of the season on the road in El Dorado against Butler and picked up its first conference win of the season, while ultimately settling for a split of the doubleheader.
The Conquistadors, with a 1-1 day, moved to 12-14 on the season and 1-5 in KJCCC action as the series with Butler will transition to Dodge City on Saturday, March 21st, starting at 1:00 pm.
Game 1 – Won 15-5 at Butler (5 innings)
The Conqs wasted no time jumping in front on the day as the offense got going early, using five hits, three walks, and a Butler error in the first inning to bat around and score eight runs. With the bases loaded,
Ben Longoria drew a walk to drive in the first run of the afternoon, and then
Will Soto,
Preston Harrison, and
Cameron Stukenborg all followed with RBI singles. In the bottom of the first, Butler belted a two-run homer to get on the board, but the Conqs remained in front, leading 8-2. An RBI double by Stukenborg added to the Conqs' lead in the second. Butler tightened up the contest with three runs, making it 9-5, but the Conqs did the rest of the scoring with three in the fourth and three more in the fifth before shutting the door on the game in the bottom of the fifth to earn the 15-5 win.
The Conqs had 17 hits in the victory, with five multi-hit games led by Soto, who was 4-4 with four runs scored, three RBI, and two doubles. Harrison added a 3-4 game with two runs scored, a double, and four RBI. Stukenborg put together a 3-4 game with two RBI, a run scored, and a double.
Jordi Guerrero and
Angel Vazquez each had two hits in the victory.
Cameron Stewart earned the win, tossing 3.2 innings, giving up five runs on nine hits and no walks, with two strikeouts.
Dariel Luna and
Starling Beverding each saw action on the mound for the Conqs in the win.
Game 2 – Lost 11-2 at Butler
The hot start to the day offensively for the Conqs did not continue in game two, as the Conqs mustered just three hits and fell behind early to Butler. In the bottom of the first, Butler plated four runs to grab the early lead as the Grizzlies then tallied a run in the third, two in the fourth, a run in the sixth and seventh, and two more in the eighth. The Conqs managed a run in the fourth and fifth innings, each scoring on a pair of fielder's choice plays, but it was not enough, falling 11-2.
Conqs had just three hits as Vazquez, Longoria, and Guerrero each notched a hit, while the team drew six walks and three more runners via hit by pitch. Four pitchers saw action for the Conqs as
Michael Bizier went five innings as the starter.
