MCC Baseball opens season Tuesday at Garden City
The McCook Community College baseball team is scheduled to open the season Tuesday at Garden City, Kan. Snow, rain, ice, and low temperatures in Dallas canceled what was to be an opening weekend four-game set with North Lake College.
MCC Coach Jon Olsen is optimistic about all three phases of the game offense, pitching and defense. The squad returns seven of nine position players, seven of its 10 top arms from last season, and Olsen thinks his infield defense might be the best he's ever had.
Finishing with a 31-27 record, the Indians batted .319, and hit 85 home runs, the 13th most in the nation.
"We have a ton of guys back so we're going to be very sophomore heavy and I thought we were pretty good offensively last year," Olsen said. "So I there's a chance that will be a real strength of this team but I do think our pitching staff is much improved as well."
The coach said at this time a year ago he was putting a pitching staff on the field that had just two pitchers with any college experience, and that experience was limited to just a few innings.
"We're building our pitching staff off what I thought was a pretty good year pitching-wise," Olsen said. "I feel the base is better, their work ethic has been excellent and the freshmen that we've added have been really good," Olsen said, "So I'm equally optimistic about our pitching staff this year."
The third phase of the game, defense, returns a core of four infielders, a catcher and centerfielder.
"I think in my 20 years this will probably be one of the better defensive infields we've ever had," Olsen said.
MCC placed second in the Empire League's north division in 2021 with a 19-15 record in Region IX, earning MCC a first-round home best-of-three games series against Luna Community College of Las Vegas, N.M, which MCC swept in two games. At the region's final four in Colorado Springs MCC dropped a 9-8 decision to Lamar Community College in the double-elimination tournament and lost to Southeast Community College 8-7.
The coach expects the Region IX (The Empire League) to be a tough one again this season.
"In the past 15 years the region has always been very competitive, and once again this year I think every series is going to be a dog fight," Olsen said.
Southeast won the north division a year ago and Western Nebraska was third but came back to win the Region IX Tournament. Last year the Region went to a north and a south division with MCC joining Western Nebraska, Southeast Community College, and Northeastern Junior College in the north division, where the teams play each other home-and-home three-game series.
"I have a lot of respect for the teams in our division with Southeast winning the regular season and Western Nebraska winning the championship, and NJC is always good," Olsen said. "I feel like our side is very tough."
MCC's home north division games include April 9-10 against Western Nebraska; April 15-16 against Southeast Community College, and April 23-24 against Northeast Junior College
Teams in the north will play the south division teams four games with the location alternating every year. This year MCC will host Trinidad State (March 5-6) and Luna Community College (March 26-27) while traveling to Lamar (March 19-20) and at Otero Junior College (April 2-3).
After Tuesday's game at Garden City, MCC will continue with weekend games in Kansas as Olsen is looking to add some games. MCC will travel to Texas Feb. 16-19. On Feb. 16 the team will play TCS (The Complete Showcase) Post Grad, where two current MCC players pitched: (Tristan Browning and C.J. Allen). On Feb. 18 MCC will play at Claredon, Texas – coached by Kregg Snook, who was MCC's assistant last season.
MCC's first home game is set for Feb. 22 against Garden City which kicks off three non-conference home-and-home series against Garden City, Colby and Northeast Community College.
Here's a look at the 2022 MCC team by position:
CATCHER
Caleb Eiguren, (Broomfield, Colo.) returns for a third season as catcher. He played in 55 games last spring and batted .331 with 10 extra-base hits and 35 RBIs. He batted .282 in 21 games in the Covid-19 shortened 2020 with 17 RBIs.
"He's pretty much been the starter his first two years, he does an excellent job handling pitching staffs," said Olsen.
Behind him are a couple players who redshirted in 2021: Justin Chappel, (Colorado Springs) and Owen Lester (St. Charles, Ill.), as well as incoming freshman Brett Cyprien (Flower Mound, Texas) whose bat was impressive in the fall and may also merit some at bats as designated hitter and off the bench pinch hitting.
INFIELD
Sophomore Zack Beatty (Maple Park, Ill.) returns at first base where he was a second-team All-Region IX selection in 2021. He broke the MCC single-season home record with 18 while batting .354, slugging .719 and driving in 63 runs in 56 games. He ranked 10th in the nation as a freshman with his 18 home runs. He had 138 total bases, and a .447 on-base percent.
Kade-Poteet-Herrera (Pueblo, Colo.), a second-year freshman is a left-handed hitter who backs up Beatty, and according to Olsen has enough offensive pop to see some time as DH.
At second base, pre-season NJCAA All-American Daniel Bannon (Sydney, Australia) -- who was named Region IX Freshman of the Year and All-Region IX -- looks to add to his records. In his first year at MCC he set single-season team records in batting average (.439), total bases (156), and on-base percentage (.525). He also tied single-season records with 77 runs and six triples. He played in 57 games, hit 13 home runs, with 15 doubles and 52 RBIs.
As a freshman, Markus Coronado (Irving, Texas) took over the shortstop position until breaking his hand one at bat into April. Through 31 games he batted .331 with four home runs and 27 RBIs along with a .911 fielding percentage.
Next to him at third base Elijah Munoz (Big Spring, Texas) played in 57 games as a freshman and batted .274 with three home runs and a .941 fielding percentage.
"Markus is one of the best defensive shortstops in the Midwest in my opinion and with Elijah at third I feel like the left side defense is going to be extremely tough," Olsen said.
Others vying for opportunities at second, shortstop and third base include returners Matt Hamilton (Aurora, Colo.); Persio Quezada, (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic); freshmen Tyus Chudomelka (Bellevue, Neb.), Callyl Lozada (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico), and Oliver Davis (Sydney, Australia) who joined the team at the start of this semester.
OUTFIELD
Melwin Perez (San Sebastian, Puerto Rico) and Jordan Demarce (Las Vegas) provide the most experience returning in the outfield. Demarce played in 40 games and batted .290 with 13 RBIs while playing errorless centerfield. Perez came on late in the season to claim right field and batted .326 with three home runs, 15 RBIs in 18 games. He had a .466 on-base average and slugged .630.
Three other newcomers will see time in the outfield: Ethan Murdoch (Swift Current, Saskatchewan), Josh Maysonave (Austin, Texas), and Riley Watson (Sydney, Australia).
"Ethan's an excellent hitter and he's got a chance to be in the middle of our order whether outfield or DH, and Josh gives us a left-handed bat and will start in left," Olsen said.
Five other guys will look to push for outfield at bats: returners Deagen Morocom (Winnipeg, Manitoba); Will Johannsen (Parker, Colo.); KJ Hartline (Mitchell, Neb.); Jaiden Holley (Brisbane, Australia), who played in 2020 but was unable to return because of the coronavirus in the 2020-2021 season; and a pair of incoming freshmen, Trent Elshire (Plattsmouth, Neb.), and Rylan Wallingford (Fort Calhoun, Neb.).
"We're extremely deep in the outfield, there's a lot of good players out there fighting," Olsen said.
While the team returned seven of nine returners, the two lost were big bats in all-Region IX players Kade Wroot (North Platte), Ricardo Hernandez (Ponce, Puerto Rico) who had 32 home runs and 120 RBIs combined.
"Those were two huge bats but we see Ethan and Josh as the two guys who can step up and add that kind of offensive ability to absorb some of those power numbers," Olsen said.
STARTING ROTATION
A trio of sophomores will lead the starting rotation in 2022: Max Mrakovic (Sydney, Australia), Alex Lozada (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico), and Ethan Fritz (Bellevue, Neb.).
"Max and Alex are already signed with Division I schools, and Ethan is getting a lot of interest and will probably sign Division I as well, and he had as much success as any of our guys last year," Olsen said.
Mrakovic, who will pitch at Division I Louisiana-Monroe next season, appeared in 16 games, starting a team-high 13, finishing three with a 7.07 ERA. In 70 innings pitched he allowed 77 hits, walked 47 and struck out a team-high 96 hitters. That strikeout total ranked him 24th in the nation.
Lozada, who will signed onto play at DI Jackson State in Mississippi, also appeared in 16 games in 2021, starting eight times with a 4-3 record. He pitched 41.2 innings, struck out 54 (11.66 strikeouts per game), allowed 48 hits, walked 28 and had a 6.88 ERA.
Fritz, started nine games last season and appeared in 12, compiling a 4-2 record in 42 innings of work. He allowed 13 walks and struck out 27 with a 6.64 ERA.
BULLPEN
Closer Jordan Muschalek (Odessa, Texas) appeared in a team-leading 25 games and went 5-7 with three saves and an 8.68 ERA. He pitched 37.1 innings, struck out 31. Mitchell Driver (Sydney, Australia) appeared 14 times and went 3-2 with one save and a 7.17 ERA. After being injured for part of the 2021 season he finished striking out 25 hitters in 31.1 innings.
Sophomore Eduardo Ojeda (Coral Springs, Fla) pitched in 11 games (all in relief) and went 1-0 with a 12.91 ERA. He pitched 15.1 innings and struck out 22 hitters and is back for his third year with the team.
"He has probably made as much improvement from anyone from last year to this year," Olsen said.
Quenten Werner (Elgin, Ill.) had some off-season knee surgery and missed the fall but is expecting to pick up innings. Last season he appeared in 13 games and went 0-1 with a 9.33 ERA, striking out 13 hitters in 18.1 innings of work.
Tristan Browning (Haslet, Texas) sophomore returns to the staff but has been experiencing some arm issues and his status for the season is unknown.
"We have a few freshmen who I think will really help us out," Olsen said.
That group includes several who will also look to earn some spot starts. Mikey Arcieno (Thornton, Colo.), looks to start the season as the fourth guy in the rotation. C.J. Allen (Salado, Texas), and Ryan Malone (Bennington, Neb.), are both guys Olsen expects to develop into good pitchers and Cade Webber (Kelowna, British Columbia) has the chance to be mid-week starter for MCC.
Other freshmen arms include: Jelle Bing (Heerhagoaard, Netherlands); Jackson Bigge (Fort Collins, Colo.); and Rocky Yates (Sydney, Australia) who came in at semester. Owen Lester, who in addition to being a backup catcher has made big strides as a two-way player out of the bullpen.
For all the up-to-date information on MCC baseball this season including, schedules, statistics, rosters and photos, please visit the official website of MCC Athletics at: https://mccookcc.prestosports.com/landing/index