MCC Baseball splits Friday twinbill with Otero

The McCook Community College baseball team split a pair of games with Otero College Friday. The Rattlers won the first game 4-2 and the Indians won the second game 12-5.

“It was good to get the second game today after we dropped Game 1,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. “Their guys did a nice job of keeping us off the scoreboard.”

Sophomore Aviv Bobrov (Shekhanya, Israel) went all seven innings on the mound for the Indians, striking out 11 Rattlers, but gave up three runs in the sixth inning.

“Aviv threw well they just made all their plays in the same inning to put up a three-spot,” said Olsen. “They made the plays we didn’t and that’s how you win games, especially in tight-pitched games.”

Otero took a 3-0 lead in the first inning of Game 2, but the Indians countered with a seven-run inning and never trailed.

“They came out and got after it in Game 2 as well and jumped on us early but fortunately we responded with a big bottom of the first,” said Olsen. “And it was really the only productive inning we had all day.”

Freshman Jakoby Hamer (Edmonton, Alberta) hit a home run and had five RBIs to lead the offense. Freshman Hayden Galvin (Calgary, Alberta) had three hits and drove in two runs. Freshman Mikah Targett (Sydney, New South Wales Australia) pitched six innings to pick up the win with three innings of relief from sophomore Colby Kaplan (Parker, Colo.).

Otero goes to 4-2 in the standings and 7-17 on the season.

MCC goes to 5-1 in Region IX and 22-7 overall.

“We took way too many bad swings today, made no adjustments and struck out too much,” said Olsen. “It’s very uncharacteristic of our offense, hopefully we can make an adjustment tomorrow.”

These two teams will wrap up their four-game series Saturday with another doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. at the Jaycees Sports Complex.

GAME 1 – Otero College 4, McCook CC 2: Both teams scored a run in the third inning with Otero scoring on a two-out solo home run and MCC on a leadoff double by freshman Kon Yoshimura (Nagasaki, Japan), a passed ball and a double-play ball.

MCC took a 2-1 lead on a leadoff double by Yoshimura in the fifth and loaded the bases with two hit batters, but only scored one run – on an RBI-groundout by Jacoby Hamer.

Otero tied the game when the first three batters in the sixth inning reached base on a single walk and a run-tying double. The Rattlers took the lead on a wild pitch and added another run on an RBI-single.

The Indians got a out-out double by sophomore Tyler Reyburn (Frederick, Colo.) in the sixth and put another runner on base with a walk but didn’t score.

MCC had two runners reach base in the second inning, two runners in the fourth and two in the sixth and didn’t score in any of those innings.

“It was really frustrating not to get the big hit,” said Olsen.

MCC had just four hits in the game with two by Yoshimura.

Aviv Bobrov pitched seven innings, allowing five hits, three walks and 11 strikeouts.

GAME 2 – McCook CC 12, Otero College 5: The Rattlers struck for three-first inning runs off MCC starter

Mikah Targett, including a pair of longballs.

MCC responded with seven runs in the bottom of the first. Freshman Owen Weales (Bowmanville, Ontario) led off with a double followed by back-back singles from sophomore Hunter Southey (Auckland, New Zealand) and a two-run single by Jacoby Hamer. Hayden Galvin tied the game with an RBI-single and the Indians took the lead on a fielder’s choice, took a 5-3 lead with a two-run single by Kon Yoshimura, added a sixth run on an RBI-single from Weales and went up 7-3 on a bases-loaded walk by Hamer.

The Indians added on two runs in the second on a hit batter, a Galvin RBI-single and a two-out double by Yoshimura to put MCC up 9-3.

Hamer powered a three-run home run in the fifth to give the Indians a 12-3 lead.

The Rattlers got a solo home run in the sixth inning, but Targett finished the inning. He allowed seven hits, four earned runs (three homers), two walks and six strikeouts.

Colby Kaplan pitched the final three innings to pick up the save. He allowed two hits, three walks and one earned run with one strikeout.

Galvin led the way with three hits. The Indians also got two-hit games from Weales, Southey, Hamer and Yoshimura.

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