There are two things you can't deny Pittsburg's baseball team does well: Hit the ball and score runs.

The Purple Dragons remained undefeated on the season with a 17-2, 11-3 sweep of Fort Scott High at Lions Field Wednesday night. The first game ended after three innings as Pittsburg (6-0 in the SEK, 7-0 overall) scored nine runs in the first inning.

"I'll give it to Pittsburg: They can mash the ball," Fort Scott head coach B.J. Pruitt said. "One through nine in their lineup, they're solid and they are a very good ball club.

"We didn't help ourselves with our fielding. We committed several errors in key situations. But I give Pittsburg credit for hitting the ball more than us having trouble pitching. When we threw strikes, they let us know it."

The Dragons have scored in double figures in every game they've played. In fact, the 11 runs they scored in game two was their season low. They're averaging 14 runs a game.

Pittsburg had 11 hits in the opener and took advantage of five Tiger errors. Austin Ross, Zach White, Ryan Williams and Jace Erwin each had two hits. Erwin, the No. 9 batter, drove in five runs, all in the first two innings.

"Once they started hitting the ball a little bit, then we'd start trying to get fine with our pitches," Pruitt said. "Then all of sudden everything's a ball and they start getting walks."

Fort Scott's only runs scored in the bottom of the third. John Leek drove home Cody McKay with a triple and later scored on Denton Ramsey's single. Ramsey had two of the Tigers' five hits.

Game two started off better. Pittsburg scored two in the top of the first but the Tigers (1-3, 2-5) were able to get them back in the bottom half.

Blake Nelson led off and reached on an error, ending up on second and scoring from there when Mikey Karleskint belted a triple. Karleskint came home when Alex Bowman reached on an error.

Pittsburg made it 5-2 with two runs in the top of the third and added two more to the tally in the third. Four more went up for the Dragons in the fifth.

Fort Scott's other run scored in the seventh. Ramsey doubled to lead of the inning and scored on Lane Farrell's single.

Shane Drenick pitched the first six innings for Pittsburg, allowing two hits and no walks while striking out four. Five Tigers had one hit each.

A bit of a bright spot for the Tigers was the pitching of freshman Cole Clayton in the second game. He pitched two innings in relief in the opener and was roughed up. But in the second game, he allowed only one hit and one walk, striking out two in two more relief innings.

The Tigers won't have to linger on this loss, though. Labette County comes to town Friday for an SEK doubleheader. The first game will be played at Ty Cullor Field starting at 4:30 p.m. because Fort Scott Community College needs Lions Field at 4 to complete a suspended game against Independence. Once that game is over, the Tigers may have the option to use Lions Field for their second game if they wish.

"(Today), we're going to go back to the basics," Pruitt said. "We're going to focus on some small things; things that we control ourselves. We'll go back to the drawing board, get things right and try it again on Friday."

Tuesday, the Tigers go to Parsons for another SEK twinbill as they continue through a march of 11 games in 11 days that began Tuesday.

Game One

Pittsburg........... 953 xxx x -- 17 11 0

Fort Scott........... 002 xxx x -- 2 5 5

WP -- Speer. LP -- Nelson (0-1).

HR -- none.

Game Two

Pittsburg......... 232 040 0 -- 11 10 2

Fort Scott.......... 200 000 1 -- 3 5 3

WP -- Drenick. LP -- Karleskint (0-1).

HR -- none.