Strong pitching from Fynn Hyson paired with stellar defense behind him sent the Durango High School baseball team to a key road win Tuesday.
The Demons (2-4) traveled to Falcon (2-7) and came home with a 4-2 victory. Hyson pitched a complete game and allowed only five hits while he struck out five. Jordan Stanley made a pair of diving catches in center field, including one for the final out of the game to secure the victory.
Hyson’s ability to pound the strike zone helped him get through the whole seven innings.
“It felt good to play a clean game,” DHS head coach Eric Baker said. “We got a really fine pitching performance from Hyson. He threw about 85 pitches or so, and right around 60 were strikes.”
Full game statistics were not available. Baker said Stanley had a big double but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. He also credited Sten Joyner for having a timely hit and making a couple of big plays at third base.
Baker said Stanley made two key defensive plays to end the game, as he went deep into left center field to make a diving catch for an out. On the final play of the game, he raced in from center field on a sinking line drive and once again made a diving catch. That helped DHS hold off any kind of Falcon rally after the DHS lead had been cut from 4-0 to 4-2.
“Kind of an exciting way to end a game,” Baker said. “One of the impressive things we did was they came back and put some hits together and we didn’t help them any. It makes such a huge difference when they have to earn every base runner. It’s a lot harder than when you give them three or four.”
DHS will play three home games next week, beginning with Aztec at 3 p.m. Tuesday. The teams have split the previous two meetings this year.
“It will be exciting to get back and get to work on our own field,” Baker said. “It will be nice to have hometown fans and have them come root for us. It’s going to be some extra work to make sure the field is ready, but it will be ready.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
