Indians win eighth straight; sweep Northeast CC
NORFOLK – The McCook Community College baseball team won their eighth straight game Friday taking two games from Northeast Community College winning 6-2 and 4-2 in eight innings.
“I thought we got a couple good wins today against a really good team,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. “Northeast has been playing well and has played some tough teams to this point.”
Sophomore Dalton Berg (Frederick, Colo.) hit a two-run home run (his eight homer of the season) in the first inning of Game 1 and the Indians never trailed as sophomore pitchers Aviv Bobrov (Shekhanya, Israel) and Tait Anderson (Auckland, New Zealand) held the Hawks to five hits and struck out three.
“I thought we really really pitched it well today,” said Olsen.
MCC broke up a 2-2 tie in the eighth inning of Game 2 manufacturing a pair of runs to extend the win streak to eight games. From the mound, sophomore Raul Romero (Brisbane, Queensland Australia) and freshman Nolan Jackson (Grimsby, Ontario) limited the Northeast offense to one double and three singles.
“Raul got his second start of the year and was really good again, he navigated the first inning and then settled in,” said Olsen. “Nolan came in and got us out of a jam in the fifth inning with one pitch then threw really well to get the win.”
The Hawks go to 8-6. MCC goes to 11-1.
On Saturday the series between the two teams will move to McCook for a doubleheader starting at 1:30 p.m.
“It was a gritty day today and was good to come out on top,” said Olsen. “It’s going to be another tough day tomorrow.”
GAME 1 – McCook CC 6, Northeast CC 2: Dalton Berg lined a two-run home run to right field to put MCC up 2-0 in the first inning. The Indians added two more in the second on an RBI-double by freshman Owen Weales (Bowmanville, Ontario) and an RBI-groundout by Hunter Southey (Auckland, New Zealand).
Northeast got a two-out homer in the fifth off Aziz Bobrov to cut the MCC lead to 4-1. Bobrov pitched five innings allowing four hits, one earned run. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out three Hawks.
The Indians responded with two runs in the sixth inning. Sophomore Chase Williams (Brampton, Ontario) was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Freshman Kon Yoshimura (Nagasaki, Japan) tripled home Williams and scored on a sacrifice fly by Weales to put MCC in front 6-1.
Tait Anderson pitched the final two innings and allowed one earned run, (a leadoff home run in the seventh), the only hit he allowed. He didn’t walk any and struck out three.
“We split Game 1 with Aviv and Tait because they were on a little short rest with getting moved back last weekend and moving up this weekend but both were really good,” said Olsen.
Both teams were held to five hits. Berg led MCC with two hits, a double and the home run.
GAME 2 – McCook CC 4, Northeast CC 2 (8 innings): The Hawks scored a pair of unearned runs in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead against MCC starting pitcher Raul Romero (Brisbane, Queensland Australia). He is a sophomore transfer from Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Fla.
The Indians got a run back in the third on a single by Chase Williams, a walk, a hit batter and a bases-loaded walk with one out to Hunter Southey. MCC left three batters in scoring position with back-to-back strikeouts.
Romero pitched 4.2 innings, and allowed two unearned runs on four hits, no walks and two strikeouts. Freshman Nolan Jackson (Grimsby, Ontario) entered the game in the fifth with bases loaded after a Norfolk single and back-to-back hit batters by Romero but induced an inning-ending groundball out.
The score remained 2-1 until the sixth inning when MCC freshman Jakoby Hamer (Edmonton, Alberta) lined a one-out single. With two outs, MCC got back-to-back walks to sophomore, Tyler Reyburn (Frederick, Colo.) and sophomore Bunji Nakao (Auckland, New Zealand) and with bases loaded freshman Kieren Cutler (Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador) was hit by a pitch to tie the game.
The Indians got a walk and a hit batter in the seventh and after a sacrifice bunt by Southey, had two runners in scoring position but couldn’t push the go-ahead run home. Reyburn walked to lead off the eighth inning, was sacrificed to second and put MCC up 3-2 on an RBI-single from freshman Hayden Galvin (Calgary, Alberta). After Hayden stole second base he scored on an RBI-single by Williams.
“We left a couple opportunities out there in Game 2, but did a good job of pushing a couple across in extras,” said Olsen.
Jackson retired the Hawks in order in the eighth to pick up the win. He pitched 3.1 innings, allowing no hits, no runs and he walked two.
MCC had five hits in the game – all singles – with two by Williams but the Indians did walk seven times and got on base three times with hit batters.
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