By John Mesh
The Hutchinson Monarchs bounced back from a loss to the Kansas Cannons Thursday to defeat the Kingman Islanders 2-1 in a Jayhawk Collegiate League baseball game Friday night at Hobart-Detter Field.
Hutchinson (27-6 overall, 12-2 league play) scored two runs in the bottom of the second inning against Kingman (23-9 overall, 10-5 league play) Friday.
“Tonight’s attendance of 370 puts us at 5,683 on the season,” said the Monarchs on their X/Twitter page. “We’d love to see at least 317 of our closest friends Saturday to get over 6,000 on the season.”
Kingman pushed across a run in the top of the sixth inning to cut Hutchinson’s lead to 2-1. The Monarchs did not score in the bottom of the sixth, seventh or eighth innings.
Cole Toureau started on the pitching mound for the Monarchs and worked the first six innings for the victory. Jack Mount came into the game in the top of the seventh and retired all nine Islander batters he faced to get the save.
Thursday night, the Kansas Cannons stopped the Monarchs’ nine-game winning streak by handing Hutchinson a 5-2 setback.
The Augusta-based Cannons scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Monarchs out-hit the Cannons and cut the lead to two with three consecutive hits in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Hutchinson’s Blake Bradford knocked in Jaden Gustafson and Will Edmondson, who both singled with one out in the inning.
Hutchinson Monarchs’ pitching gave up nine walks which led to two runs scored for the Cannons.
Ian Regal took the loss for the Monarchs.
Hutchinson will host Kingman at 7 p.m. Saturday in the final regular-season game of the season.
Hobart-Detter Field will get new artificial turf
A project to install artificial turf surfaces at Hobart-Detter Field and at two fields at Fun Valley Sports Complex took two major steps forward.
The Hutchinson City Council on Tuesday awarded the project to Mammoth Sports Construction, which submitted a $2.26 million bid.
Hutchinson Community College and USD 308, which use Hobart-Detter Field and Fun Valley, have entered into agreements to cover part of the project cost.
The project was part of a $3.16 million bond authorization the council approved prior to accepting the bid, which came in under budget.
Kansas Cannons earn bid to 90th NBC World Series
The Augusta-based Kansas Cannons from the Jayhawk Collegiate League are the 12th team earning a bid to the 90th National Baseball Congress World Series July 25-Aug. 3 at Wichita State University’s Eck Stadium.
Lonestar Baseball Club-North, from Hutto, Texas, clinched first place in the CenTexCollegiate Baseball League Thursday night and claimed the 11th tournament bid.
Other Jayhawk Collegiate League teams invited to the NBC World Series are the defending NBC champion Hutchinson Monarchs and the Haysville Aviators.
Former HutchCC golfer Clemons missed cut at British Open
Former Hutchinson Community College golfer Dominic Clemons missed the cut at the 152nd British Open after carding a 7-over 78 second round on Friday.
The Open is being played at the Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland.
Clemons, a former NJCAA All-American, tied for 136th overall with a 13-over-par two-day total of 155. He fired a 77 in the first round Thursday.
Clemons posted a better two-day score than Tiger Woods (+14), Wyndham Clark (+16) and John Daly (withdrew).