Park City inches closer to division-leading Monarchs

July 04--The Hutchinson Monarchs entered a five-game home stand Thursday knowing they could all but wrap up the Walter Johnson League's North Division title this weekend.

Should have generated some excitement in the Monarchs' dugout, right? Didn't seem that way, as Park City scored four runs before the Monarchs batted, and Park City went on to a 6-3 win at Hobart-Detter Field.

Thus, the befuddling season for the Monarchs (12-15) continued.

"This team has been hard to figure out," Monarchs coach Deron McCue said. "Summer baseball can be hard to figure out. It's a grind, and you've got to figure out ways to play, whether you feel 100 percent or not. You still have to put out effort and come to play every day, whether you're in the lineup or not."

Park City (10-17) crept to within two games of the Monarchs. The teams will play again at 1 p.m. today at Hobart-Detter Field, and again Tuesday in Wichita.

The race has gotten tighter, but catcher Mitchell Beaudreau said the Monarchs wouldn't panic. "We won't put too much pressure on ourselves," Beaudreau said. "We're not that kind of team."

Perhaps the Monarchs need to see a hard-throwing pitcher. Thursday, Park City's left-hander Fielding Matkins wasn't that type of pitcher, and he continually kept the Monarchs guessing. In eight innings, Matkins allowed seven hits and two runs.

"We have to stay shorter," said Beaudreau, who had three of the Monarchs' 10 hits. "We had a lot of long swings. We put the ball in play, but we need shorter swings. We had those kind of swings in the ninth, and we were in position to come back and win there."

It did get interesting in the ninth inning, which was about the only time the game had much suspense.

In the top of the first, Park City jumped on losing pitcher Cameron Brockhoff. He hit Sam Wilson on the game's first pitch. With one out, Anthony Lucas walked, and Elon Chamberlain's single loaded the bases. Then, Jackson Boyce tripled down the right-field line, clearing the bases. He scored on Mark Vaughn's ground out, giving the Rangers enough runs to win.

"We had a bad inning," McCue said. "Take that inning away, and it's a good ball game. (Brockhoff) was up in the zone a bit in the first inning, but he settled in after. But it was a tough first inning."

Brockhoff pitched five innings, but allowed no runs on three hits after the first.

The Monarchs managed runs in the second and fourth innings. BJ Dean provided an RBI double in the second, with Beaudreau singling home Ricardo Ramirez in the fourth.

Park City tacked on insurance runs in the sixth and eighth innings against Monarchs reliever Kevin Luman. Those runs were almost needed, as the Monarchs rallied in the ninth inning against Park City reliever Alex VanDeVuuse.

Ramirez led off and singled, and with one out, Beaudreau and Tyler Bugner singled, loading the bases. Zak Leighton walked with two outs, scoring Ramirez, but that would be the extent of the offense as VanDeVuuse struck out the side.

"It just seems these last two nights we've let strikes go by and swung at balls," McCue said.

The Monarchs still have a chance to edge closer to the North Division title, which would include a berth in the NBC World Series. But the Monarchs haven't been a team all season that has done anything easy.

"We've got a good opportunity to put some space between us and the teams behind us," McCue said. "That's on the kids. They've got to come out and play. We haven't played well the last two nights."

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