MCC Baseball wins two games at Western Nebraska

SCOTTSBLUFF – The McCook Community College baseball team started the day in last place in the standings and finished the day, one game out of second place as they swept Western Nebraska in a pair of games on the next to last day of Region IX play.

"It was a tough day to play but I was really proud of the guys for sticking with it, the wind got pretty rough in Game 2," said MCC Coach Jon Olsen.

MCC broke open a tight Game 1 scoring four seventh runs – three on a home run by sophomore Jordan DeMarce (Las Vegas) to win 11-6 and in Game 2, took advantage of four Cougar errors to score eight unearned runs on the way to a 13-7 win.

Sophomore Zach Beatty powered a Game 1 home run, his 22^nd of the season to lead all NJCAA Division 1 players. He drove in five runs on three hits in Game 2. He had five hits on eight at bats for the day with seven RBIs.

"We got two great outings from a couple freshman bullpen guys," said Olsen.

The MCC bullpen shined bright Friday with freshman Jelle Bing (Heerhagoaard, Netherlands) pitching the final two innings of shutout relief in Game 1 and Cade Webber (Kelowna, British Columbia) pitched six innings of relief in Game 2 and allowed just one run on four hits.

"We kept scrapping offensively and just stuck our nose in it defensively, it was a tough day to defend and we got it done," said Olsen. "I was proud of our guys for that."

MCC improves to 17-16 in the Region IX north division standings, Western Nebraska falls to 15-18.

In the other Region IX Empire Conference north division doubleheader in Sterling Colo., Northeastern Junior College beat Southeast Community College twice Friday winning 9-2 in Game 1 and taking Game 2, 10-8. NJC holds onto second place and goes to 18-15 while SCC has clinched first place with a 28-5 record in the north division Region IX Empire League.

The second place team in the north will face the third place team in the south in the post season with a best-of-three game home series. The third and fourth place teams will be on the road at the south's top two teams, Trinidad State (first) and Lamar (second).

MCC, 28-26 overall, and Western Nebraska will close out the Region IX schedule with a single nine-inning game Saturday at 3 p.m. MST.  

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 mccindians.com

GAME 1 – MCC 11, Western Nebraska 6: MCC jumped on the board in the first on a solo home run by sophomore Zach Beatty – his NJCAA leading 22nd home run of the year to put MCC up 1-0.

Western scored a run in the first and took the lead in the second off MCC sophomore starter Ethan Fritz (Bellevue, Neb.). MCC tied the game in the third on an RBI-double by Beatty.

After neither team scored in the fourth, MCC pulled ahead in the fifth inning, scoring four times. The first coming on a leadoff double by Brett Cyprien (freshman, Flower Mound, Texas) and one-out RBI-double by sophomore Daniel Bannon (Sydney, Australia). With two out freshman Josh Maysonave (Austin, Texas) powered a three-run homer to right field to put MCC up 6-2.

In the bottom of the frame the Cougars tied the game with four runs.

Kade-Poteet-Herrera (Pueblo, Colo.) led off the MCC sixth with a single and later come home on a two-out RBI single by Markus Coronado (Irving, Texas) to put MCC in the lead 7-6.

Fritz pitched five innings, allowed five earned runs, on eight hits, and he struck out three.

In the MCC seventh, MCC got singles by Riley Watson (freshmen Sydney, Australia) and Oliver Davies (freshman, Sydney, Australia) leading to one run on a Western Nebraska error, followed by the three-run homer by Jordan DeMarce.

Freshman Jelle Bing (Heerhagoaard, Netherlands) pitched the final two innings and shut out Western Nebraska on one hit.

Beatty and Maysonave led the 11-hit MCC offense with two hits each.

GAME 2 – McCook Community College 13, Western Nebraska 7: Daniel Bannon led off the game with a single and later scored on a passed ball. Again in the third he led off with a single. Coronado followed with a single and both runners scored on a Josh Maysonave double to go up 3-0.

After Western Nebraska took the lead with five runs in the third, MCC took it back with four runs in the fourth with three of those runs coming on a two-out bases-loaded double by Zach Beatty, who later scored on a passed ball to put MCC up 7-5.

Sophomore Max Mrakovic (Sydney, Australia) pitched three innings for MCC, allowing four hits and five earned runs. He walked five and struck out five.

The Cougars scored a run off reliever Cade Webber (Kelowna, British Columbia) in the fourth to cut the deficit to 7-6 but MCC loaded the bases in the sixth with a walk, a Cougar error and a bunt single by DeMarce and all three runners scored – one on a wild pitch, one on a passed ball and the final one on a Bannon sacrifice fly to give MCC a 10-6 lead.

A bases-loaded walk in the seventh and a Beatty RBI-single in the seventh put MCC up 12-6. Western Nebraska got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning to make it a 12-7 game.

A Cougar error in the ninth set it up for Beatty whose RBI-double made it a 13-7 lead

Webber pitched six innings, allowed four hits, one earned run, no walks and five strikeouts.

MCC had 11 hits in the game with three by Beatty and two each by Kade-Poteet-Herrera (Pueblo, Colo.) and Bannon.