MCC Baseball wins in gusty Oklahoma
ALVA, Okla. – The McCook Community College baseball team battled windy conditions Wednesday to earn an 8-1 win over the Northwestern Oklahoma State University JV.
Nine Indian pitchers saw action Wednesday amidst a game-time wind advisory and gusts of 20 to 30 mph as the Indians got back in the win column after dropping all three games of a weekend series to Iowa Western Community College.
“Today was a day where the conditions played a big part of how the day went. The wind was howling straight in today which took away some of our offensive strengths said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. “We threw nine guys today and got eight really good outings.”
While the offense was held to five singles and two doubles, MCC batters accumulated 12 walks with two being hit by pitches. The Indians also stole seven bases.
“We did a good job of taking advantage of some free passes early to jump out to a nice lead but then we didn’t adjust very well throughout the game,” said Olsen.
The Indians drew three consecutive walks to start the game and got a two-run RBI single from freshman Kieren Cutler (Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador) to go up 2-0 in the first inning.
“Cutler had a big two-out hit early in the game,” said Olsen.
More patience at the plate yielded four runs in the second when Cutler was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for the first run, a bases-loaded walk from freshman Matthew Botticelli (Edmonton, Alberta) and a two-run single by sophomore transfer Hunter Southey (Auckland, New Zealand) to give the Indians a 6-0 lead.
Four MCC pitchers didn’t allow a base hit or a run through the first four innings. Freshman Tyler Parent (Newmarket, Ontario) started the game and had a strikeout. Sophomore Tobey Cassino (Arvada, Colo.) struck on a hitter in the second, freshman Santiago Rodriguez (Okotoks, Alberta) walked one and fanned two in the third; and sophomore Kaden Noble (Orillia, Ontario) walked one and struck out one hitter to get the Indians through the fourth inning.
Sophomore Kayden Frizzell (Littleton, Colo.) hit the first batter in the NWOSU fifth and walked the bases loaded before he was relieved by freshman Timmy Hunt (Ashland, Neb.) who got a strikeout, induced an RBI-groundout and another strikeout to get out of the fifth with MCC up 6-1. He also pitched the sixth inning and allowed one hit in his two innings of work with two strikeouts.
“Timmy had a huge outing coming in with bases loaded no outs and only giving up one, then threw a clean sixth inning,” said Olsen.
Freshman Isiah Lopez (Midland, Texas) took the mound for the seventh and after allowing a leadoff double and a walk, got out of the inning when his catcher, Cutler, gunned down an attempted base-stealer at third base and Lopez struck out the next two hitters.
After a walk and a Ranger error put two runners on to start the MCC eighth, Southey delivered a two-out, two-run double to put MCC up 8-1.
“That was a huge two-out double for some insurance,” said Olsen.
Sophomore reliever Jeff Bullock (Medicine Hat, Alberta) retired the side in order in the bottom of the eighth and sophomore Colby Kaplan (Parker, Colo.) allowed one hit and struck out one in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Freshman Hayden Galvin (Calgary, Alberta) and Southey both had a single and a double. Cutler drove in three and Southey four.
While MCC reached base seven times with hits and 14 times with free passes, Indian hitters struck out 13 times.
“We struck out too much and gave them some easy outs, but we did do a nice job stealing some bags,” said Olsen.
Freshman Jakoby Hamer (Edmonton, Alberta) led the way on the basepaths with three steals and freshman Lucas Munns (Toronto, Ontario) distinguished himself defensively at second base.
“Lucas Munns had a great day defending which was great to see,” said Olsen. “We definitely got two of the three phases going today and did enough offensively,” said Olsen. “It was good to get back in the win column after the weekend.”
MCC improves to 15-5.
The Indians will be off this weekend and will play twice in Kansas next week before returning home March 21 for a four-game series against Lamar Community College to start the Region IX schedule.
Next week MCC will be in Liberal, Kan. Monday to play Seward County Community College at 1 p.m. then play at Dodge City, Kan. Tuesday at 2 p.m.
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