Lujan’s Complete Game Sends Saints to Split With No. 20 Blue Dragons

LIBERAL, Kan. – Sophomore pitcher Michael Lujan held the league's top-ranked offense in check with a complete-game effort in the first game of a doubleheader against the 20th-ranked Hutchinson Blue Dragons on Thursday afternoon at Brent Gould Field.

The Saints (22-26, 14-8 KJCCC) won the opener 7-1 behind Lujan's strong outing as he threw a career-high 7.0 innings, allowing one run on four hits while striking out five and walking none.

Seward dropped game two 24-14 as Hutchinson (35-11, 17-5) used 20 hits and seven home runs to earn the split. The Saints have now split five consecutive doubleheaders.

Seward travels to Hutchinson on Saturday for a 1 p.m. first pitch at Hobart-Detter Field.

Game 1: Seward 7, #20 Hutchinson 1 (7 inn.)
Lujan (W, 4-3) held Hutchinson to season lows in runs (one) and hits (four) in the Saints' win. He retired 10 straight batters from the third through the sixth inning, including three consecutive 1-2-3 innings.

Hutchinson struck first in the second inning when Cru Huenfeld hit a solo home run for a 1-0 lead.

Seward capitalized on a Hutchinson error to tie the game in the bottom of the second, then took a 3-1 lead on a two-run single by Juan Alvarez that plated two unearned runs.

Blaine Chancy launched a two-run homer in the third inning, then added a two-run double in the fifth. He finished 3 for 3 with four RBIs and two runs scored, tallying a double, triple and home run.

Alvarez went 2 for 4 with two RBIs, while Grant Cox finished 2 for 3 with two runs scored.

Game 2: #20 Hutchinson 24, Seward 14 (9 inn.)
Seward jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning of game two when Juan Alvarez hit a two-run homer to left-center field.

The Blue Dragons answered with 10 unanswered runs across the second, third and fourth innings, including seven in the fourth. Hutchinson led by as many as 13 runs as the Saints used five pitchers in the game.

Brooks Kappelmann (L, 4-4) took the loss after allowing eight earned runs on nine hits over 3.1 innings. He struck out five and walked two.

Alvarez and Isai Santaella homered for Seward. Santaella went 3 for 6 with three RBIs and three runs scored. David Brabb, Grant Cox, Jackson Phillips, Garrett Fuentes and Diego Valero-Munoz each recorded multiple hits for Seward, which was outhit 20-17 and committed four errors.

Just 13 of Hutchinson's 24 runs were earned in the three-and-a-half-hour game.