MCC Baseball gets sweep at Plainsmen Park
STERLING, Colo. – After being swept in a Thursday doubleheader at home by Northeastern Junior College, the McCook Community College baseball team responded Saturday sweeping NJC in Plainsmen Park, winning 7-1 and 20-10.
“I’m really proud of our guys with the way they bounced back today,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen.
In Game 1, the Indians extended a 1-0 lead with five runs in the fifth inning which was all the cushion MCC sophomore starting pitcher Tate Anderson needed to send the first-place Plainsmen their first conference loss of the season.
“I wasn’t sure how we’d respond and Tait really took it upon himself to put us on his shoulders,” said Olsen. “He threw one of the best games I’ve seen in a while against a good hitting team with the wind blowing out pretty good.”
The Indians gave up an 8-1 lead in the third inning of Game 2 but sent 13 batters to the plate in a nine-run fifth inning as freshman Jakoby Hamer (Edmonton, Alberta) hit a grand slam as part of his 7-RBI day and his 11th homer of the season. Freshman reliever freshman Nolan Jackson (Grimsby, Ontario) picked up the win on the mound pitching the final 4.2 innings.
“We just kept scoring every inning, gave up a big lead but then Nolan settled in and did a really nice job,” said Olsen. “I was proud of how we kept getting after it at the plate.”
The Plainsmen fall to 10-2, atop the Region IX standings (26-12 overall).
MCC moves back to within a game of the lead at 9-3 (27-9 overall).
“It was a big day for us and now we need to have another good week this week,” said Olsen.
The Indians will be home Tuesday to face Garden City Community College in a 1 p.m. game at the Jaycees Sports Complex. Next up in Region IX play will be a weekend series at Trinidad State with doubleheaders Friday and Saturday at 2 p.m. each day.
GAME 1 – McCook CC 7, Northeastern JC 1: The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the second inning with a leadoff walk by freshman Kieren Cutler (Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador), who stole second base and scored on an RBI-single by sophomore Connor Charvat (Elkhorn South H.S.).
With two outs in the fifth inning, Cutler lined a two-run home run, his fifth of the season, to left field to put MCC up 3-0 and sophomore Corbin Lochhead (Vegreville, Alberta) greeted a new NJC pitcher with a solo homer, his second of the year. After Charvat was hit by a pitch, freshman Kon Yoshimura (Nagasaki, Japan) singled and freshman Owen Weales (Bowmanville, Ontario) singled both runners home to give MCC a 6-0 lead.
“NJC’s starter did a nice job and then Cutler had a huge swing for us, that was the play for the game offensively for us,” said Olsen.
In the sixth, sophomore Dalton Berg (Frederick, Colo.) tripled with one out and scored on a sacrifice fly from sophomore Hunter Southey (Auckland, New Zealand) for a 7-0 MCC lead.
NJC scored its only run of the game with a leadoff double in the sixth and an RBI single.
Starting pitcher Tait Anderson (Auckland, New Zealand) picked up the win, improving to 6-1 on the season, yielding eight hits in seven innings, He walked two and struck out six. It was his fourth complete game of the year.
The Indians had 10 hits in the game with three by Weales and two by Yoshimura.
GAME 2 – McCook CC 20, Northeastern JC 10: Sophomore Tyler Reyburn (Frederick, Colo.) lined a one-out triple in the first inning and scored on a groundball-RBI by Jakoby Hamer. Kieren Cutler was hit by a pitch to lead off the second and Corbin Lochhead homered (his third of the year) to put MCC up 3-0. After consecutive infield errors by the Plainsmen, Hamer doubled in two more runs give the Indians a 5-0 lead.
NJC got to MCC starting pitcher Tobey Cassino (sophomore, Arvada, Colo.) with a solo homer to lead off the second, but the Tribe scored three runs in the third on a walk, an NJC error and a three-run homer by Connor Charet to put MCC ahead 8-1. It was Charvat’s fifth round-tripper this season.
After one out in the NJC third, Cassino hit consecutive Plainsmen who took advantage with an RBI-single and an RBI-double to bring on the MCC bullpen and reliever Nolan Jackson. After striking out the first hitter he faced, he walked three straight hitters to make it an 8-5 game. An MCC error let in two more runs and the home team tied the game at 8-8 with an RBI-single. Cassino gave up three hits, five earned runs with a walk and three strikeouts.
He Indians reclaimed the lead in the fourth with a pair of runs. Reyburn led off the inning with a walk, Hamer singled and Berg walked to load the bases. MCC scored a run on an RBI-groundout by Southey and a sacrifice fly by Cutler to lead 10-8. NJC countered with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning to make it a 10-9 MCC lead.
MCC blew the game open in the fifth, sending 13 hitters to the plate and scoring nine runs. Hamer hit a grand slam to start the scoring, Southey hit a two-run homer (his seventh) and Kon Yoshimura had a two-run single, and the final run of the inning scored on an NJC error to give the Indians a 19-9 lead. Berg was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the seventh to make it a 20-9 game.
NJC scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Jackson closed the game out as MCC was able to end the game early with the 10-run rule. Jackson earned the win (4-1) with his 4.2 relief effort. He allowed two earned runs in 4.2 innings pitched, walked six and struck out six.
MCC outhit NJC 13-5 and the Indians drew nine walks and got hit by pitches four more times. Hamer fueled the offense with three hits and seven RBIs. Weales, Reyburn and Lochhead all had three-hit games while Southey and Charvat both had three RBIs each.