MCC Baseball wins home-opener Saturday 11-10 over Southeast CC

The McCook Community College baseball team opened at home Saturday with an 11-10 win over Southeast Community College to open an Empire League North series. MCC came back from being down 10-3 in the sixth inning to beat the defending Empire League North champions.

"This was a really good comeback win for us today, we have been on the other side of those the past couple games," said MCC Coach Jon Olsen.

MCC opened the scoring with a run in the second on a one-out single from sophomore Abel Reyes (Puerto Caimito, Panama) and a two out triple by Alliskair Descartes (sophomore, Thornton, Colo.).

Southeast scored a pair of run in the third to take a 2-1 lead but MCC tied it in the fourth on a leadoff single by Ethan Murdoch (sophomore, Swift Current, Saskatchewan) and a fielder's choice with Reyes batting. One inning later, MCC took a 3-2 edge on a SECC error, a single by sophomore Trent Elshire (Plattsmouth) and an RBI-single from freshman Michael Quick (Oshawa, Ontario).

The Storm tied the game in the fifth on a leadoff home run to chase MCC starter Mikey Acierno (Thornton, Colo.), who went 5 innings, allowed four hits, three earned runs, four walks and five strikeouts. Freshman reliever Ethan Badcock (Adelade, Australia) was victimized by six earned runs in one-third of an inning as Southeast took a 10-3 lead.

"I am probably the most proud about how we responded after giving up an eight-spot in the sixth," said Olsen. "That was a tough one to get through, then we just came right back at them. I'm really proud of the group."

MCC climbed back into the game in the bottom of the inning scoring seven times. A walk and a Storm error opened the door for a Decartes RBI-single, a two-run double by freshman Jackson Yeager (Omaha Westside) to make it a 10-6 game. Elshire singled in Yeager and Quick tripled in Elshire to make it 10-8, then Murdoch homered to center to tie the game at 10-10.

Rocky Yates (redshirt freshman, Sydney, Australia) pitched two-thirds of an inning, allowing one earned run. Sophomore Jelle Bing (Heerhagoaard, Netherlands) went two scoreless innings, allowing one walk and one hit to go along with a strikeout.

In the MCC eighth, Josh Maysonave (Austin, Texas) singled with one out. After Reyes walked, with two outs MCC scored the game-winner on a Decartes walk and a bases-loaded Yeager walk.

Freshman Aiden Johnson (Westminster, Colo.) came on to pitch a scoreless ninth to pick up the save. He allowed one single and struck out two.

"We got three great innings out of the pen at the end of the game," said Olsen. "That was really good to see."

MCC outhit Southeast 13-9 and got two-hit games from Elshire, Quick, Murdoch, Maysonave, Decartes and Yeager.

Southeast goes to 9-9 overall and 3-2 in Region IX. MCC improves to 3-5 in region play and 8-11 overall.

The two teams will play a doubleheader Sunday starting at 1 p.m. at the Jaycee Sports Complex.

"It's another tough doubleheader tomorrow, all region games are," Olsen said. "We just need to come out focused and compete. Day 2 of our last three weekends hasn't gone well, so we need to try and flip that tomorrow."

For all the up-to-date information on MCC baseball this season including up-to-date scheduling changes, statistics, rosters and photos, please visit the official website of MCC Athletics at mccindians.com