KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The Hesston College baseball team swept a pair of games against region opponent East Central College on Monday (Apr. 7). Both games were tightly contested, but the Larks managed to come out on top in both matchups. The Larks will be back at home this weekend (April 11-12) for a series with Moberly Area Community College. The series kicks off at 6 p.m. on Friday (Apr. 11).
Game 1 – Hesston College 3, East Central College 0
Both teams struggled offensively in the opener as they combined for three total hits. Yuya Omata earned the win for Hesston throwing four hitless innings and striking out five batters. Luke Richard earned his first career save tossing three innings and allowing only one hit with a pair of strikeouts.
The Larks manufactured all three of their runs in the bottom of the fourth. Kelvin Malone drew a bases-loaded hit by pitch to bring in Trentis Lane, before a Falcon throwing error allowed Sincere Lozano and Chris Cammllarie to cross the plate.
Lucas Dunn and Colin Pitzer each recorded a hit with Dunn collecting his 16th double of the season.
Game 2 – Hesston College 6, East Central College 5
The second game of the doubleheader featured a much more dramatic ending as the Larks won it in walk off fashion in the ninth inning.
The Falcons plated a pair of runs in the third to take their first lead of the series. They added to their lead in the fifth with an RBI double to go up 3-0, but Hesston responded with two runs in the home half. Back-to-back RBI singles from Jett Millsap and Kaleb Wise put the Larks on the board making the score 3-2. Hesston tied things up in the seventh as Richard stole home on a first and third situation. In the ninth, the Falcons drove in two runs on another RBI double to regain the lead, 5-3. The Larks loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning before Wise was intentionally walked to cut the ECC lead to one. In the following at-bat, Cutter Livermore drove a ball to left field to bring around Lane and Millsap with a walk off RBI double.
Dunn finished 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and scored a run while Wise and Livermore drove in two runs each.
Zach Guntle made the start for Hesston going three innings and allowing two runs (no earned) on one hit and one walk while striking out two. Millsap earned the win after tossing the final three innings of the contest and allowing two runs on four hits and a walk while striking out three batters.
