The Hutchinson Monarchs avenged a Thursday night extra-inning loss to the Cheney Diamond Dawgs with a 12-2 run-rule victory on Friday night at Hobart-Detter Field.
The Monarchs scored in each of their six at-bats and pounded out 12 hits against Cheney to even the season series with the Diamond Dawgs at 1-1. This was Hutchinson's first run-rule victory of the season.
Matt Hopkins was impressive in his first start of the season. he allowed just six hits and two runs with six strikeouts. Hopkins retired 12 of 13 Cheney batters, including eight in a row.
Zach Philbin worked a scoreless seventh to close out the game.
Offensively, Jackson Lofton had a season-high four hits, goign 4 for 5 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Lofton reached base in all five plate appearances. He drove in two runs in the first off a Cheney error. He was credited with only one RBI on the play. Jackson also had RBI singles in the fourth and fifth innings.
Dylan Nedved and Taylor Barber had two hits each.
Keith Wolverton had a huge blow in the game with a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning that gave the Monarchs a 6-1 lead.
The 8-4 Monarchs will be at Andale both on Saturday and Sunday.
