Baseball Recap: Hutchinson-Central Tech Drops Highest Score of Season Against Middle Early College

Engineers

Team Score (Highest)

04/30/25 vs Middle Early College	22
04/24/25 vs Riverside	19
04/17/25 vs Western New York Maritime Charter	17
04/25/25 @ Fredonia	2
04/03/25 @ Kenmore East	1

Winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Hutchinson-Central Tech). They were the clear victors by a 22-4 margin over the Middle Early College Kats on Wednesday. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for the Engineers considering their two-run performance the match before.

Niko Mercado made a splash while hitting and pitching. He struck out eight batters over four innings while giving up four earned runs off only one hit. Those eight strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also stellar in the batter's box, going 1-for-3 with three runs, one stolen base, and one double. Those runs marked the first that he has scored this season.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Ricaldo Valdez, who got on base in five of his seven plate appearances with one home run, four runs, and two RBI. Mike Guercio was another key player, going 2-for-3 with three RBI, two runs, and one triple.

Hutchinson-Central Tech pushed their record up to 3-2 with the win, which was their third straight at home. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Middle Early College, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 1-3-1.

Looking ahead, Middle Early College will challenge Burgard at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Hutchinson-Central Tech will be paying especially close attention to the Kats' game: after the Kats face off against North Collins, they'll take on Hutchinson-Central Tech again at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.