Indians sweep Lamar with a walk-off homer

The McCook Community College baseball team opened Region IX play Friday at home with a doubleheader sweep over Lamar Community College. MCC won 12-5 in Game 1 and came back with a ninth inning walk-off home run by sophomore Hunter Southey to take the second game, 9-8.

Southey, (Auckland, New Zealand) – the sophomore transfer from Eastern Arizona – also hit a sixth-inning homer in Game 1 to deliver the decisive blow of a seven-run sixth inning. He scored four runs on the day, went three-for-seven with five RBIs.

“It was a fun way to end the second game obviously a big swing by Hunter,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. “He’s been pretty good for us lately.”

Sophomore Aviv Bobrov (Shekhanya, Israel) started Game 1 and went 5.1 innings and freshman Nolan Jackson (Grimsby, Ontario) picked up the win in relief pitching 1.2 scoreless, hitless innings.

“I thought Game 1 we did not play very good defense and I thought Aviv was really good we just needed to play behind him better,” said Olsen. “Nolan did a nice job coming in in the tie game to get out of it then we had a big inning.  

In Game 2, starting pitcher Raul Romero (sophomore, Brisbane, Queensland Australia) struck out nine hitters in 5.1 innings and sophomore Tobey Cassino (Arvada, Colo.) came on in relief to pick up the win.

“Raul gave us a great start, and we used a lot of guys out of the pen but they kept us within striking distance,” said Olsen. “Tobey played a huge role in the win for us at the end of the game.”

Lamar falls to 12-16 on the season and an 0-2 start to Region IX play.

MCC starts off 2-0 in the region and goes to 19-5 overall.

These two teams will play another doubleheader Saturday starting at 1 p.m. at the Jaycees Sports Complex.

“We need to come out and play a little cleaner tomorrow,” said Olsen.

GAME 1 – McCook CC 12, Lamar 5: Freshman Owen Weales (Bowmanville, Ontario) doubled to lead off the first for MCC and scored on a double from freshman Jakoby Hamer (Edmonton, Alberta) for the first run and a Lamar led to two more runs with two outs as the Tribe took a 3-0 lead.

The Runnin’ Lopes got a leadoff double in the second and pushed that runner home to make it a 3-1 game. The Indians got that run back on a Weales double and a bases-loaded RBI-walk by sophomore Dalton Berg (Frederick, Colo.).

The score remained 4-1 until Lamar pushed across two unearned runs in the fifth to close within 4-3. MCC responded with a run in the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff single by Berg and an RBI-single from sophomore Tyler Reyburn (Frederick, Colo.) to put the Indians up 5-3.

Lamar tied the game 5-5 in the sixth with an error and a two-run home run. Aviv Bobrov pitched to two more batters before he was relieved. He pitched 5.1 innings, allowed six hits, two earned runs, two walks and he struck out seven. Nolan Jackson came on with one out and a runner on first and got out of the inning with a strikeout and a pickoff of the runner at first base.

MCC got three free passes to load the bases in the bottom of the sixth with one out. Hamer walked to put MCC ahead 6-5 and then freshman pinch-hitter Kieren Cutler (Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador) had a two-run single to put the Indians up 8-5. Reyburn singled in a run to make it 9-5 and Hunter Southey hit a three-run home run put the game out of reach.

Jackson hit a batter in the seventh but retired three of the four hitters he faced to preserve the win. He pitched 1.2 innings and struck out two.

MCC batters had eight hits, eight walks and a hit batter. Reyburn and Weales both had two-hit games. Southey drove in three while Hamer, Cutler and Reyburn all had two RBIs.

MCC committed three errors in the game.

GAME 2 – McCook CC 9, Lamar 8: Lamar scored a run in the second and another in the third to lead 2-0 off starting pitcher Raul Romero.

Two MCC batters were hit by pitches to lead off the MCC second and Jocoby Hamer singled in one run to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Hunter Southey doubled to lead off the MCC third inning followed by a single from sophomore Chase Williams (Brampton, Ontario). They both scored on a two-run double from freshman Kon Yoshimura (Nagasaki, Japan). Three batters later Hamer slammed a two-run home run to put the Indians up 6-2.

Southey and Williams led off the fifth with a walk and a single and Southey scored on an RBI-fielder’s choice with Yoshimura batting to make it a 7-2 lead.

Romero pitched 5.1 innings allowing two earned runs on six hits, four walks and he struck out nine. Freshman Santiago Rodriguez (Okotoks, Alberta) finished off the sixth with no runs allowed on a strikeout.

Lamar got a run back in the seventh off Jeff Bullock (Medicine Hat, Alberta). He faced four batters allowing two hits, a walk, and a strikeout. He was charged with one earned run. Freshman Timmy Hunt (Ashland, Neb.) finished out the inning but ran into trouble in the eighth allowing a leadoff home run, a double and a bunt single. Hunt allowed three earned runs on three hits and one strikeout. Tobey Cassino came on in relief, but an MCC error and a two-run Lamar triple tied the game and the Lopes went ahead on an RBI-groundout, taking an 8-7 lead.

“We had a few bad things happen in the seventh and we stayed in it,” said Olsen.

MCC got a one-out triple by Tyler Reyburn in the eighth, but he was left stranded.

Cassino retired Lamar in order in the ninth, striking out the final two hitters. He surrendered two unearned runs in his two innings of work, gave up one hit, no walks and he fanned three.

After a leadoff walk by Kieren Cutler and one out, Southey got an 0-2 count but muscled up on the next pitch and sent it over the centerfield fence to give MCC the 9-8 win.

“I just thought it was a day we had to hang in there and then make a play and we did,” said Olsen.

MCC had 11 hits in the game with three by Williams and two each by Reyburn, Hamer and Southey. Hamer and Yoshimura both had three RBIs, and Southey the two important RBIs at the end of the game.

Up-to-date information about MCC baseball including up-to-date schedule and changes, livestream links for home games, rosters, photos, statistics and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com