MCC baseball loses doubleheader to Western Nebraska

The McCook Community College baseball team dropped a pair of games to Western Nebraska Sunday, 6-3, 19-15. MCC won the opening game of the series Saturday 13-8.

"It's just a really disappointing day today," said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. "When you go out and get Game 1 of a three game series you put yourself in a good position to win the series. We just didn't take advantage today."

In Game 1, the Cougars broke open a 1-1 game with a pair of runs in the sixth inning and three in the seventh to spoil a 12-strikeout performance from MCC starting pitcher Ethan Fritz (sophomore, Bellevue, Neb.)

"We got a really good start from Ethan Fritz and we just didn't defend, even a couple plays that weren't errors just had to be made," Olsen said. "He deserved to give up one run today and we lost 6-3."

In Game 2, Western came up with a pair of five-run innings, a four-run inning and a three run inning to outlast MCC.

 "It was just more of the same in Game 2, we had way too many free passes and the five runs in the second were all unearned," Olsen said. "We just had to keep coming back and coming back from four and five-run deficits which we did, we just couldn't catch up."

MCC committed four errors in the game leading to six unearned runs, and MCC pitchers walked 10 Cougars.

MCC falls to 20-20 on the season and 14-11 in Region IX play (the Empire League).

Western Nebraska goes to 14-23 overall and 10-10 in the Empire League.

On Tuesday MCC will travel to Colby for a game against the Trojans starting at 4 p.m.

On Friday MCC will host Empire-League leading Southeast Community College in a three-game series. The Storm are 29-6 and 21-1 in Region IX play. First pitch for the series opener Friday is at 2 p.m. with the Saturday doubleheader to begin at 1 p.m.

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

GAME 1 – Western Nebraska 5, McCook CC 3: MCC manufactured a two-out run in the first. Sophomore Zack Beatty (Maple Park, Ill.) was hit by a pitch, Caleb Eiguren, (sophomore, Broomfield, Colo.) singled, Ethan Murdoch (Swift Current, Saskatchewan) walked and Beatty scored on an error by the pitcher.

Western Nebraska tied the game up in the fourth inning off Ethan Fritz with a leadoff home run. The Cougars took the lead with a pair of runs in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh.

Fritz went seven innings, allowed six hits and five earned runs, he walked one and struck out 12.

Freshman Riley Watson (Sydney, Australia) lined a one-out single to right in the seventh. A Cougar error brought the tying run to the on-deck circle. Watson scored on a wild pitch and MCC added the final run on an RBI ground-out by Jordan DeMarce (Las Vegas).

MCC was held to three hits in the game with one each from Watson, DeMarce and Eiguren.

GAME 2 – Western Nebraska 19, McCook CC 15: MCC opened up the second game with a pair of first inning runs. With two outs Zach Beatty singled and Ethan Murdoch followed with a two-run homer to left.

Western Nebraska put up five runs in the second inning off MCC starter Alex Lozada (sophomore, Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico).

The home team responded with three runs in the third to tie the game 5-5. Markus Coronado singled to center and Beatty followed with a two-run home run. A Cougar error extended the inning and sophomore Elijah Munoz (Big Spring, Texas) drove home the tying run on a single.

Western Nebraska took the lead in the fourth with a doubleplay ball and after Lozada walked the first three hitters in the fifth, the Cougars scored four times. Lozada pitched four innings, allowed three hits, four earned runs, he walked six and struck out three. C.J. Allen (freshman, Salado, Texas) came on with the bases loaded and went 1.1 innings allowing three hits, three earned runs, one walk and one strikeout.

Trailing 10-5 in the fifth, MCC fought back with four runs on two outs. Freshman Josh Maysonave (Austin, Texas) hit a solo home run, and after a Riley Watson walk, Munoz tripled to left field and both came home on the throw. Freshman Justin Chappel, (Colorado Springs) then homered to make it a 10-9 game.

Western Nebraska broke the game open with five runs in the sixth inning off Jordan Muschalek (Odessa, Texas) on six hits and a walk. He pitched 2.2 innings, allowed six hits and six earned runs on three walks and six strikeouts.

Daniel Bannon (Sydney, Australia) led off the sixth with a double and later came home on a sacrifice fly to cut the margin to 15-10, but the Cougars got that run back in the seventh on an unearned run.

MCC got back-to-back two-out RBI singles in the seventh from DeMarce and Bannon to make it a 16-12 game but the Cougars added three runs in the eighth to lead 19-12.

Beatty led off the eighth with a solo home run and MCC added a pair of runs in the ninth on RBI doubles from Oliver Davies (freshman, Sydney, Australia) and Bannon.

Freshman Jelle Bing (Heerhagoaard, Netherlands) pitched an inning of scoreless relief with a pair of strikeouts.

MCC had three-hit games from Bannon, Beatty, and Munoz and outhit Western Nebraka 19-12 and out-homered them 5-3.