Indians split doubleheader at Scottsbluff
SCOTTSBLUFF – For the second straight day, the McCook Community College baseball team split a pair of games against Western Nebraska Community College. On Friday MCC lost the first game to the Cougars 4-3 in a nine-inning walk-off, but came back to take the second game 16-6.
The Cougars came-up with the Game 1 game winning walk-off with two outs on back-to-back singles in the ninth inning. MCC had led that game 1-0 in the first inning and 3-0 in the third but lost the lead when Western hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning.
“I felt like we gave away the first one, not so much with the homerun we gave up to tie it, but the fact we didn’t score when we had chances to extend the lead,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen.
MCC had a runner on third base in the first inning with no outs and the heart of the batting order coming to the plate – but the hitters were unable to get a ball out of the infield.
The Indians broke open a 7-5 game by scoring seven runs in the sixth inning of Game 2. Sophomore Leif Friedrich (Surrey, British Columbia) picked up the win on the mound with a 5.1 inning relief effort. Sophomore leadoff hitter Nathan Hutchison (Riverton, Wyo.) had three hits in both games.
“It was a nice bounce back in Game 2, we got up and then let them back in it then Leif came in and shut the door the rest of the game while we built our lead,” said Olsen. “It was a nice win, but we have to quit giving up leads in region games.”
The Cougars go to 2-6 in the Region IX standings (Empire League) and 11-18 overall.
The Indians go to 3-5 in the Empire League standings and 13-17 overall.
MCC will travel to Colby Tuesday for a nine-inning game starting at 3 p.m.
On Friday the Indians will be back in the region for another four-game split series against Northeastern Junior College. The first two games will be played in Sterling, Colo Friday, April 4 starting at 2 p.m. with the final two games played in McCook Sunday, April 6 with first pitch at 1 p.m.
For all the latest information about MCC baseball including schedule and schedule changes, livestream links, statistics, rosters, photos and more please visit the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com
GAME 1 –Western Nebraska CC 4, McCook 3 (9 innings): Sophomore Nathan Hutchison (Riverton, Wyo.) led off the game with a single and MCC took a quick lead when freshman Carter Smith (Ottawa, Canada) lined the third pitch of the game for an RBI-double into center field.
Hutchison led off the MCC third with a double and with two outs freshman Dalton Berg (Frederick, Colo.) lined a homerun to put MCC up 3-0.
Redshirt sophomore Myles Chabi (sophomore Sydney, Australia) made his second start of the year and had his second-straight scoreless stint working on a pitch limit. He allowed one hit in four innings, no runs or walks and he struck out four.
Sophomore reliever Jean Duran (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) pitched a scoreless fifth inning. He walked the leadoff batter in the sixth and gave up a single to the next hitter but struck out the next two hitters before Western tied the game on a three-run home run by Cooper Wilson
Duran pitched two innings, allowed two hits, two walks and he struck out two.
Freshman Tate Anderson (Auckland, New Zealand) pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth inning. After issuing a leadoff single in the ninth, he retired the next two hitters but Western Nebraska rallied for back-to-back two-out singles to win in a walk-off. Anderson allowed three hits, hit a batter and struck out five in his 2.2 innings.
“Chabi was great again, it’s good to see him ramping back up, but this was just tough to swallow because we had only given up one infield hit until the bottom of the sixth, then we go walk, infield single and home run to send it to extras,” said Olsen. “We need to find ways to keep adding on runs.”
MCC had six hits in the game with three by Hutchison.
GAME 2 – McCook 16, Western Nebraska 6: The Indians took a 2-0 lead in the first inning with a leadoff single by Nathan Hutchison, a walk, a single by Dalton Berg and Joshua Joseph (freshman, Poplar Grove, Ill.) was hit by a pitch for the first run and freshman Tyler Reyburn (Frederick, Colo.) drove home the second run on a sacrifice fly.
The Cougars scored four runs in the second inning off MCC freshman starting pitcher Aviv Bobrov (Shekhanya, Israel), who went 1.2 innings, allowing a two-run homer as part of WNCC’s four hits as well as two walks and a strikeout.
MCC’s bats awakened in the fourth and the Indians scored four runs to take a 6-4 lead. Freshman Garrett Bacon (Tulsa, Okla.) started the rally with a one-out single. Mason Regan (freshman, Centennial, Colo.) followed with a double and freshman Landon McKillip (Lamoni, Iowa) drove home Bacon with bunt single. Hutchison grounded out to drive in Regan to tie the score 4-4 and then MCC got back-to-back RBI-doubles from Carter Smith and sophomore Cory Wouters (sophomore Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) to take a 6-4 lead.
WNCC got a run back in the bottom of the inning with a solo homer off reliver Leif Friedrich but MCC responded in the fifth with back-to-back doubles by Joseph and Reyburn to go up 7-5.
Hutchison and Smith singled to lead off the MCC sixth and Hutchison scored on an outfield error. Berg doubled home Smith, and Joseph singled home Berg to put MCC ahead 10-5. With two outs McKillip was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Hutchison singled home two more runs, and the final run of the inning scored on a balk to give MCC a 14-5 lead.
Wouters hit a leadoff home run in the seventh and another run scored on a Berg double and a Reyburn single to make it a 16-5 game.
Western scored an unearned run in the seventh. Friedrich recorded the win in relief. He allowed one earned run on two hits and two walks in 5.1 innings, and he fanned eight Cougars.
MCC outhit WNCC 17-6 with three-hit games from Hutchison, Berg and Reyburn. Hutchison had three RBIs and Reyburn had four. The Indians had eight extra-base hits in the game.