MCC baseball splits Friday doubleheader with Southeast

MCC baseball splits Friday doubleheader with Southeast

The McCook Community College baseball team split a critical Empire League south division doubleheader Friday winning the first game 7-5 and losing the nightcap 8-7.

A four-run fourth inning in the first game powered the Indians to a 7-5 win in a seven-inning game. The Storm countered in Game 2 with a three-run seventh inning and came back from a 7-4 deficit in the ninth inning to score four times and win 8-7.

"It's hard to put into words how one half inning can ruin all the good things we did out there for 15 innings," said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. "But we didn't finish off the game and we got beat." The coach added it was "almost unreal" to watch the top of the ninth, with so many chances to finish off the game.

Sophomore Mitchell Driver (Sydney, Australia), who closed on the first game with a save, was in line to pick up his second save of the day, but was a victim of bad fortune.

"I do think we learned some things today though, Mitchell Driver was really good at the end of the game, should have had two saves on the day, we got pretty good starting pitching and offensively came up with some big hits," Olsen said.

Freshman Daniel Bannon (Sydney, Australia) homered in both games and had five hits on the afternoon and 13 total bases.

Reigning Region IX pitcher of the week Max Mrakovcic (freshman, Sydney, Australia) started the first game on the mound and pitched strong into the sixth inning and Austin Mathews (sophomore, Clearwater, Fla.) started the second game and surrendered just one run and one hit heading into the seventh inning.

"We didn't make any errors all day until the ninth inning of the second game, and even though not all went as errors we had five chances to make plays and didn't make one of them," Olsen said. "It's hard to give up a 4-spot when only one ball made it out of the infield and we didn't walk or hit anyone (minus the international walk).

Southeast goes to 2-7 and 1-1 in the league.

MCC goes to 8-10, and 2-3 in the Empire League south standings. Saturday's series finale with Southeast was postponed because of weather concerns.

"Hopefully we can take the good from today and learn from the bad and get better from it," Olsen said.

The Indians are scheduled to go south this week during spring break for a game Tuesday in Garden City and then Wednesday in Alva, Okla. for a pair of games with Northwestern Oklahoma State JV.

Lamar Community College is scheduled to come to McCook March 20-21 for a three-game series starting with a Saturday doubleheader, March 20 at 1 p.m. and another Sunday at 1 p.m.

For more photos from today's game please visit the McCook Community College Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/MPCCMcCook

GAME 1 MCC 7, Southeast CC 5: The Indians took the lead for good in the fourth inning scoring four runs on two doubles, two hit batters, a single, a walk and a Southeast error.
MCC took a 1-0 lead in the first on a single from freshman Marcus Coronado (freshman Irving, Texas) and added a run on an RBI-single off the bat of Elijah Munoz, sophomore (Big Spring, Texas).
The Storm tied the game with a run in the third and one in the fourth.
Kade Wroot, (sophomore, North Platte) led the inning off with a double to left. Coronado was hit by a pitch and both runners came home on a double from Caleb Eiguren (sophomore, Broomfield, Colo.). Arjun Huerta, freshman (Willemstad, Curacao) singled home Eiguren to give MCC a 5-2 lead and a bases-loaded walk with freshman Zack Beatty (Maple Park, Ill.) at the plate put the Indians up 6-2.
Max Mrakovcic pitched 5.2 innings, gave up four earned runs, walked six and struck out 10 batters to pick up the win. Mitchell Driver finished the game in relief to pick up the save, pitching the final 1.1 innings, allowing two hits, no runs, one walk and one strikeout.
Leading 6-5 in the sixth inning, MCC got an insurance run with a solo home run from freshman Daniel Bannon (Sydney, Australia).

GAME 2 Southeast CC 8, MCC 7: The Indians were unable to close out a 7-4 win in the ninth inning as the Storm scored four times with the aid of two MCC errors and held on in the bottom of the inning to preserve a split.
MCC trailed 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning and tied the game when Caleb Eiguren's two-out single brought home Ricardo Hernandez, who had reached on a base hit.
The Tribe tallied five runs in the sixth inning to take a 6-1 lead. Hernandez singled to lead off the frame, and later scored on a passed ball. Eiguren singled home another run to put MCC up 3-1. A bases-loaded passed ball gave MCC another run and then Daniel Bannon tripled in two more for the 6-1 margin.
Austin Mathews (junior, Clearwater, Fla.) started the game and had given up just one run and one hit heading into the seventh inning. Southeast started the comeback on a two-out rally in the seventh, scoring three runs on a triple, a hit batter and a three-run home run to cut the MCC lead to 6-4. Mathews finished allowing three hits, four earned runs, five walks and he struck out six.
Bannon made it a three-run lead with a solo home run in the eighth inning.
Mitchell Driver (sophomore, Sydney, Australia) came on in the seventh inning and allowed one earned run, three hits, one walk and he struck out three in two innings of work.
The Indians had 10 hits in the game with three apiece from Bannon and Eiguren, and two-hits from sophomore Elijah Munoz, sophomore (Big Spring, Texas). However, MCC hitters struck out 17 times with seven players striking out at least twice.