Blue Dragons hold on for W
BLUE DRAGON BASEBALL HOLDS OFF LATE HESSTON CHARGE
Freshman Jake Bublitz hit his third home run of the season and drove in a pair as lefty Austin Harms worked seven effective innings and the No. 16-ranked Hutchinson Community College baseball team held off a late charge to defeat the Hesston College Larks 4-2 on Wednesday evening at Hobart-Detter Field.
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Bublitz had a first-inning RBI single and a third-inning solo home run to lead a 10-hit Blue Dragon offense in the third home showing for the Blue Dragons in 2014. The Dragons (17-5) had multiple chances to break the game open, but stranded seven on base.
That left it to Harms (1-0), who worked a career-high seven innings to earn the victory. Harms scattered seven hits and allowed one unearned run. He struck out three and walked one.
Tyler Coufal worked a scoreless eighth with a strikeout. Anderson Vargas allowed an unearned run in 1-3 inning. Dakota Shadoan had a strikeout in 2-3 inning for his sixth save of the season.
HCC out-hit Hesston 10-7.
Matt Jones led Hutchinson with a 3 for 4 night and an RBI. Jake Schleppenbach was 2 for 3 with a run and RBI.
The Blue Dragons did all of their scoring in the first three innings.
Bublitz and Jones had back-to-back RBI singles in the first inning for a 2-0 lead.
Bennett Oliver led off the third with a single and moved to third on two wild pitches. He scored on a Schleppenbach sacrifice fly ahead of Bublitz's solo homer to center field.
HCC had four runners in scoring position in 4 of its final 5 at-bats.
Hesston had unearned runs in the fourth and ninth innings.
The Blue Dragons will face Seward County in a key Jayhawk West series Saturday and Sunday at Hobart-Detter Field. Game times each day are 1 p.m.