Indians sweep Thunderducks to open season
DALLAS, Texas – The McCook Community College baseball team opened the season Friday in Texas with a pair of wins over Dallas College Richland. MCC won 13-0 in five innings and 9-3 in seven innings.
In Game 1, sophomore Aviv Bobrov (Shekhanya, Israel) tossed a one-hit shutout. Sophomore Dalton Berg (Frederick, Colo.) homered and drove in three runs and freshman Jakoby Hamer (Edmonton, Alberta) had two doubles.
“Obviously a nice start to the season, we had a couple nice swings in the first inning of Game 1 that allowed us to jump on top and then Aviv settled in nicely and just controlled them offensively, so we were able to continue to extend the lead,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen.
Berg homered and drove in four runs in Game 2 and Hamer doubled twice more with three MCC pitchers combining to complete the opening-day doubleheader sweep. MCC’s defense was flawless on the day with no errors.
“All-in-all, it was a good start, I’m happy with how we played, honestly I though with the little later start this spring and nice weather we were well prepared to open the year,” said Olsen,
The Thunderducks fall to 3-5 on the season.
Because of heavy rain forecasted for most of the day Saturday, MCC’s scheduled doubleheader against Dallas College Brookhaven has been moved to Sunday starting at noon. The Bears were ranked No. 13 in the Division 3 preseason poll but started the season 0-7.
The Indians are scheduled to open at home Wednesday for a nonconference doubleheader against Western Nebraska Community College. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at the Jaycees Sports Complex.
GAME 1 – McCook CC 13, Dallas College Richland 0: Freshmen Jakoby Hamer and Owen Weales (Bowmanville, Ontario) both doubled in their first collegiate at bats to give MCC a 4-0 first-inning lead, helped in part by four walks and a hit batter.
A pair of walks to lead off the third inning led to a run when Dalton Berg scored on an RBI-groundout with sophomore Chase Williams (Brampton, Ontario) batting.
The Indians added five runs in the fourth, all with two outs. Weales and sophomore Mason Regan (Centennial, Colo.) were both hit by pitches in front of Berg’s three-run home run. Leading 8-0, MCC mounted a second rally with a single from Tyler Reyburn (sophomore, Frederick, Colo.), a walk from Hayden Galvin (freshman, Calgary, Alberta) and Williams was hit by a pitch to load the bases for freshman Kon Yoshimura (Nagasaki, Japan) who singled in two runs to make it a 10-0 game.
“Dalton had a huge home run to put us up 8-0 and kind of get us over the top, I thought we defended well all day, we didn’t commit any errors and we only walked three,” said Olsen.
The Indians closed out the game with a three-run fifth inning. Sophomore transfer Hunter Southey (Auckland, New Zealand) walked to lead off the inning and scored on Hamer’s second double of the game. Regan singled home Hamer and the final run of the game scored on an RBI-ground out by sophomore pinch hitter Connor Charvat (Omaha).
Aviv Bobrov allowed just one hit, a third-inning single, didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven Thunderducks.
MCC had seven hits and walked nine times. Berg and Yoshimura both drove in three runs.
GAME 2 – McCook CC 9, Dallas College Richland 3: Owen Weales hit the first pitch of the game for a home run.
In the third inning, Jakoby Hamer smacked a one-out double and with two outs, scored on a Dalton Berg home run. Freshman Matthew Botticelli (Edmonton, Alberta) hit a solo homer in the fourth inning to put MCC ahead 4-0.
Freshman starting pitcher Mikah Targett (Sydney, New South Wales Australia) kept the Thunderducks off the scoreboard through his three innings of work. He allowed one hit, walked three and struck out four.
Hunter Southey singled to lead off the fifth inning. With one out, Hayden Galvin was hit by a pitch. After a wild pitch, both runners scored on a two-base error and MCC took a 7-0 lead on an RBI-double from Kieren Cutler (Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador).
Sophomore reliever Colby Kaplan (Parker, Colo.) kept DC-Richland scoreless in the fourth but in the fifth inning, the Thunderducks pushed a run across on three straight singles and a two-out double to make it a 7-3 game.
The Indians got two of those runs back in the top of the sixth inning. Kon Yoshimuru led off with a single, Weales walked and after a wild pitch Yoshimura scored on an RBI-ground out by Southey and Hamer doubled in Weales to put MCC up 9-3.
Freshman Nolan Jackson (Grimsby, Ontario) came in to relieve in the sixth inning and pitched two scoreless innings with no hits or walks and four strikeouts.
“We had another solid outing on the mound, Mikah got his first start of his career and was able to work through a few things to put up three zeros, Colby threw a great fourth inning and made one bad pitch in the fifth but was good, and then Nolan finished it off with two really good innings,” said Olsen.
MCC outhit DC-Richland 10-5 with the Indians getting six extra-base hits. Hammer, Berg and Yoshimura all had two-hit games for the Indians.
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