Reivers sweep doubleheader from MCC Baseball

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa  – No. 15 Iowa Western Community College swept a pair of games Sunday against McCook Community College. The Reivers won both games in their last bats winning the first game 2-1 and taking the second game 12-10 to sweep the three-game series.

Sophomore starting pitcher Tait Anderson (Auckland, New Zealand) limited the Reivers to one run through the first five innings of Game 1 but surrendered a run in the sixth inning to be charged with the loss – despite striking out 10 hitters.

“It was a tale of two games today – total opposites, in Game 1 Tait threw a heck of a game, kept us on it the whole way, we just couldn’t get anything going offensively,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. “We had an opportunity to punch one or two more runs access just didn’t execute when we needed too.”

In Game 2, six MCC pitchers issued 10 walks and hit six batters.

“We just gave free passes too many guys,” said Olsen. “You’ re not going to win many games doing that –especially against a team that is pretty good at the plate to begin with. I was happy the way we didn’t give in and fought back in Games 1 and 3 this weekend.”

Iowa Western improves to 12-6 on the season.

MCC goes to 14-5

“That’s three losses for us by a total of four runs and we’ve had double digit free passes in all of those games,” said Olsen. “Cut that number by even a third, and all of them probably flip.”

The Indians have a light schedule this week with just one game and that will be on the road Wednesday to Alva, Okla. to face Northwest Oklahoma State University JV. Early next week the Tribe goes to Seward County and Dodge City.

“We just need to pound the zone more, we have three more games to get ready for league, so we need to come out and get better,” said Olsen.

MCC returns home March 20 to start the Region IX schedule with a four-game series against Lamar Community College.

GAME 1 – Iowa Western CC 2, McCook CC 1: The Reivers’ A. Franka hit a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the third and put Iowa Western up 1-0.

The Indians answered in the fourth with a leadoff walk by freshman Jakoby Hamer (Edmonton, Alberta) and a double by sophomore Dalton Berg (Frederick, Colo.). Hamer tied the game 1-1 on an RBI-groundout by freshman Matthew Botticelli (Edmonton, Alberta).

Sophomore starting pitcher Tait Anderson (Auckland, New Zealand) held the game at 1-1 until the bottom of the sixth when the Reiver leadoff hitter walked, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a bunt single.

Anderson allowed four hits, one earned run, three walks and 10 strikeouts in six innings of work.

Berg and freshman Owen Weales (Bowmanville, Ontario) had the only hits for MCC.

GAME 2 – Iowa Western CC 12, McCook CC 10: The Indians went up 2-0 with a pair of runs in the second. Dalton Berg led off the inning with a single and freshman Hayden Galvin (Calgary, Alberta) hit a two-run home run. Iowa Western scored twice in the bottom of the frame to tie the game 2-2.

MCC scored twice in the third with a single by freshman Kon Yoshimura (Nagasaki, Japan) and two-out RBI-singles from Jakoby Hamer and freshman Kieren Cutler (Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador). The Reivers scored three runs in the bottom of the third to lead 5-4.

Freshman Mikah Targett (Sydney, New South Wales Australia) started the game on the mound and went 2.2 innings and was charged with five earned runs on five hits, and three walks.

IWCC scored five runs in the fourth to lead 9-4. Freshman Timmy Hunt (Ashland, Neb.) relieved and went two-thirds of an inning allowing three earned runs on two hits. Sophomore Colby Kaplan (Parker, Colo.) walked three hitters before he was relieved by sophomore Raul Romero (Brisbane, Queensland Australia).

In the fifth, MCC got a double by Galvin and a two-run single from sophomore Chase Williams (Brampton, Ontario) to make it a 9-6 IWCC lead. The Reivers scored a run in the bottom of the inning.

MCC manufactured two runs in the sixth on singles by Yoshimura and Owen Weals and a walk, a wild pitch and an RBI-groundout by Berg to bring the score to 10-8. IWCC added two runs in the seventh to lead 12-8

Romero pitched 3.2 innings, allowing one earned run on three hits, two walks and three strikeouts.

The Indians rallied in the eighth with a two-out grand slam by Cutler to tie the game at 12-12.

The Reivers scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth on a double, a walk, an RBI-single, a hit batter and a bases-loaded walk. Freshman Justin Ackerman (Parksville, British Columbia) pitched to seven hitters in the eighth and ninth and sophomore Jeff Bullock (Medicine Hat, Alberta) faced the final four hitters of the game.

IWCC out-hit MCC 12-11. Gavin, Cutler and Yoshimura all had two-hit games for MCC. Cutler drove in six runs.

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