MCC Baseball looks to reverse the trend against Lopes
The McCook Community College baseball team will begin post-season play Friday for the first round of the Region IX playoffs at Lamar, Colo., and after reaching the final four tournament a year ago, the team hopes to take it a step farther this season.
The Runnin' Lopes host MCC in a best-of-three series with a doubleheader set for Friday at 2 p.m. (MT). If necessary, a third game (nine innings) would be played Saturday at noon (MT.) The winner of the series advances to Colorado Springs the following weekend where the final four teams will play in a double-elimination bracket for the Region IX title.
"We have a group of guys that won their first round series last year and came up just short in a couple games in the region tournament in Colorado Springs," said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. "I think that will make us hungry going into this year's playoffs."
A season ago, MCC finished second in the Empire League North Division standings and swept a first-round series against Luna Community College before losing twice in the double-elimination finals at University Health Field, dropping a 9-8 game to Lamar and an 8-7 game to Southeast Community College.
This season Lamar finished second in the Empire League South Division with a 15-19 record in Region IX. MCC was third in the Empire League North Division with a 17-17 record.
The two teams squared off in a four-game series in Lamar March 19-20 and the Lopes won all four games.
"Obviously our first Lamar weekend didn't go well," said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. "I will give them credit they played very well that weekend, they pitched well and put some nice swings on it all weekend."
Lamar outscored MCC in the first three games of that series 33-4 winning 9-2, 18-1 and 6-1 before coming back to make the final game close, but MCC lost 12-11.
"In that Game 4, we put ourselves in position to win they just kept coming back and making some big swings," Olsen said.
MCC came back the following two weekends in Region IX and went 7-1, sweeping Luna at home and winning three of four at La Junta, Colo. against Otero Junior College.
"Baseball is always a season of ups and downs and like I said that weekend at Lamar, it just seemed to stack up against us," Olsen said. "I think we learned some good things about our team and theirs that weekend and hopefully we can make the adjustments to change the outcome."
After winning those three of four games against Otero to start the month, MCC went 2-7 at home on consecutive weekends against division foes Western Nebraska, Southeast, and Northeastern – yet still had the chance to move into second place in the standings behind Southeast, but NJC nosed MCC out by one game for second place on the final weekend.
"Over the last few weeks with a few injuries and some good midweek games we have really been able to get a lot more guys on the field, I think that depth can really help us moving into the postseason," Olsen said.
Overall MCC went 28-28 and averages 8.09 runs per game. The team is in the top 25 nationally in four offensive categories including 560 hits (11th), 72 home runs (14th)), 892 total bases (14th) and 453 runs (25th). The pitching staff has a team ERA of 7.05
A quartet of two-year starters man the infield led by Zack Beatty (Maple Park, Ill.) at first base who broke MCC's single-season home run record this year with 22 and holds MCC's all-time career record with 40. He is batting .354 with 72 RBIs, has a .468 on-base mark, and is slugging .792. He is second in the nation with his 22 home runs heading into the weekend, and ninth in RBIs.
At second base and leadoff hitter, Daniel Bannon (Sydney, Australia) led MCC this season with a .410 batting average, and .473 on-base average. He hit 16 doubles, five homers and stole a team-best 18. Shortstop Markus Coronado (Irving, Texas) led the team playing in 53 of the team's 56 games, he finished the season hitting .303 and along with third baseman Elijah Munoz (Big Spring, Texas) who batted .288, provide a solid defense on the left side of the field.
Third-year catcher Caleb Eiguren, (Broomfield, Colo.), batted .386 for MCC and provided what Olsen said was an outstanding job with the pitching staff.
Outfielder Ethan Murdoch (Swift Current, Saskatchewan) was having a solid freshman year, batting .315 with 16 home runs when an injury ended his season April 16. Sophomore Jordan DeMarce (Las Vegas) batted .344 in 42 games with a .452 on-base average. Freshmen Riley Watson (Sydney, Australia) hit .286 with four homers and Josh Maysonave (Austin, Texas) was third on the team with seven home runs to go along with a .347 average in 37 games.
A trio of sophomore pitchers lead MCC into post-season play. Max Mrakovic (Sydney, Australia) started 11 games for MCC going 3-3 with a 6.57 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 50.2 innings. Ethan Fritz (Bellevue, Neb.) went 6-5 in 11 starts with a 4.28 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 73.2 innings.
Alex Lozada (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) went 3-1 in seven starts with a 6.30 ERA and struck out 40 hitters in 30 innings. Freshman Mikey Acierno (Thornton, Colo.) started 10 games and went 4-1 with a 6.62 ERA with 69 strikeouts in 50.1 innings.
Out of the bullpen, sophomore Jordan Muschalek (Odessa, Texas) led MCC with 19 appearances, he struck out 47 batters in 33.2 innings. Freshman swingman Cade Webber (Kelowna, British Columbia) appeared in 16 games, starting six and went 4-3 and struck out 61 in 44 innings. Sophomore Owen Lester (St. Charles, Ill.) appeared in 16 games and went 2-1 striking out 28 in 22.2 innings. Jelle Bing (freshman Heerhagoaard, Netherlands) appeared in 15 games and went 1-3 with two saves and struck out 22 in 30.2 innings.
The Lopes have a team batting average of .299 and scored 385 runs with 82 home runs – eighth most in the country.
Lamar is led offensively by sophomore Cameron Sisneros, hitting .452 with nine homers and a team-leading 46 RBIs along sophomore outfielder Michael McGinnins hitting .409 with nine homers and 44 RBIS, Dementrio Archuleta at .313 and 11 home runs, who is tied for the team homer lead with catcher Brian Ledezma, who is batting .333.
Lamar had a 9.78 team ERA and their right-hand dominant pitching staff is led by sophomore Ross Martin led the Lopes in innings with 55, he struck out 40 and went 3-2 with a 7.85 ERA. Sophomore Griffin Webb led the team with 65 strikeouts in 47.2 innings. He went 3-9 with a 9.44 ERA. Ian Weil went 3-2 with a 3.53 ERA and struck out 63 in 51 innings.
"Good players step up when it matters most and we have a lot of good players on our team," said Olsen. "I am really looking forward to getting started with the postseason."
In other first-round series Southeast Community College (first in the north) will host Luna Community College (fourth in the south); Trinidad State (first in the south) will host Western Nebraska (fourth in the north), and Northeastern Junior College (second in the north) will host Otero (third in the south.)
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
FINAL REGION IX STANDINGS
EMPIRE LEAGUE NORTH DIVISION
Region IX Overall
W-L % W – L %
Southeast CC 29-5 .853 41-10 .804
Northeastern JC 18-16 .529 29-25 .537
McCook CC 17-17 .500 28-27 .509
Western Nebraska 16-18 .471 21-31 .404
EMPIRE LEAGUE SOUTH DIVISION
Region IX Overall
W-L % W – L %
Trinidad State 22-12 .647 40-15 .727
Lamar CC 15-19 .441 18-37 .327
Otero JC 13-21 .382 16-33 .327
Luna CC 6-28 .176 8-45 .151
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
FRIDAY
Western Nebraska at Trinidad State, (two games) noon and 3 p.m. (MT)
McCook CC at Lamar, (two games), 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. (MT)
Luna Community College at Southeast CC, 1 p.m. (CT)
Otero at Northeastern JC, 3 p.m. (MT)
SATURDAY
(If necessary) McCook CC at Lamar noon (MT)
(If necessary) Western Nebraska at Trinidad State, noon (MT)
Otero at Northeastern JC, 1 p.m (MT) - Second game if necessary at 3:30 p.m.
Luna Community College at Southeast CC, noon – Second game if necessary at 2 p.m.