Saints Blown Away by Dragons in Conference Openers

Saturday didn't quite go as the Seward County Saints envisioned it in their Jayhawk West Conference openers against the Hutchinson Blue Dragons at Brent Gould Field.  Hutchinson blanked the Saints 5-0 in the opener and then unloaded on Seward pitching in game two in an 18-3 run rule victory to send the Saints to 5-12 on the year. 

It didn't take long for the Blue Dragons to get going Saturday as Hutch plated a run in the top half of the 1^st to take an early 1-0 lead.

Hutchinson added another run in the 3^rd and a third tally in the 5^th to stretch their lead to 3-0. 

Seward couldn't get anything going against Texas A&M bound righthander Nolan Hoffman as it remained a 3-0 game after five. 

The Dragons pushed their fourth run across in the 6^th to make it a 4-0 game, but the Saints had a chance to get back into things in the bottom half of the inning as they loaded the bases with two outs before a strikeout ended the threat to keep Seward off the board.

Hutch added an insurance run in the 7^th to make it a 5-0 game and Hoffman fanned all three Seward hitters in the bottom of the inning to wrap up the shutout in a 5-0 Blue Dragon win.

The Dragons outhit the Saints 11-6 in the contest with Addison Kaasch and Jacob Nielsen combining for four of the Saints six hits in the game.  Jared Biddy took the loss on the mound for Seward, falling to 1-3 on the year despite striking out a career high 10 in 4 2/3 innings worked. 

SEWARD COUNTY/HUTCHINSON GAME ONE BOX SCORE

Game two didn't start how the Saints would have liked either as the Dragons got a solo home run to begin the game and added another run later in the top half of the 1^st to take a 2-0 lead before Seward got a chance to hit. 

Another bomb by the Dragons in the 2^nd made it a 5-0 game and a four run 3^rd for Hutch stretched their advantage to 9-0. 

The Saints remained ice cold on the offensive end and the Dragons continued to add onto their lead, getting three more in the 4^th and then three in the 5^th via the long ball, blasting three solo home runs to make it a 15-0 contest. 

Hutchinson's sixth home run of the game made it an 18-0 game in the 6^th. 

Seward finally broke their 12 inning scoreless streak with three in the bottom of the 6^th, but it was far too little too late as the Dragons finished the Saints off in the 7^th for an 18-3 run rule win to wrap up the sweep. 

Hutchinson outhit Seward 17-7 in the shortened contest including banging out 10 extra base hits and six home runs against Saints pitching. No Saint had more than one hit in the loss and Jacob Nielsen collected two of the three Seward RBI's.  The lone Seward pitcher to go unscored upon was center fielder Brendan Madsen who put up a zero in the 7^th.  Jonathan Castillo was collared with the loss after lasting just 2 2/3 innings, allowing eight runs on seven hits to fall to 1-4 on the year.  

SEWARD COUNTY/HUTCHINSON GAME TWO BOX SCORE

Seward drops to 5-12 on the year with the losses while Hutchinson runs their win streak to 11 and improve to 11-2 on the year. 

The Saints and Dragons will go at it again Sunday afternoon at Brent Gould Field beginning at 1:00 to wrap up the four game set.