MCC Baseball splits Friday doubleheader at Western Nebraska

SCOTTSBLUFF – The McCook Community College baseball team split a pair of games at Western Nebraska Friday, losing the first game 9-1 and winning the second game 13-5.

The Cougars led 3-1 in Game 1 and broke open the game with two runs in the fifth inning and four in the sixth for a 9-1 win.

"In Game 1 we just didn't play up to par in any phase but especially at the plate, we just didn't get anything going, we left a lot of runners on early and really only probably had a two balls hit hard," said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. "I'll tip my hat to their starter, he held us down, and we make a couple non error defensive mistakes that also really hurt us."

In Game 2, pitcher Myles Chabi (Sydney, Australia) shut out the Cougars for five innings until the MCC offense struck for 13 runs in the final four innings. Sophomore Daegen Morcom (Winnipeg, Manitoba) banged out a double a home run and had six RBIs in the Game 2 win.

"I thought we bounced back nice in Game 2," said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. "The performance of the day was from Myles Chabi the first five innings of game two shutting them out while our offense got going, then we got rolling, Morcom was really good in Game 2, he has been on a tear the last two games."

Western Nebraska goes to 6-14 in the Empire League and 7-27 overall.

MCC goes to 25-14 and 15-8 in the Empire League.

The two teams wrap up the three-game series with a nine-inning game Saturday starting at 1 p.m. (CT).

"We need to get the game tomorrow," said Olsen.

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

GAME 1 – Western Nebraska 9, McCook CC 1: Western Nebraska scored an unearned run in the second but MCC tied the game 1-1 in the third on singles by freshman Michael Quick (Oshawa, Ontario), Ethan Murdoch (sophomore, Swift Current, Saskatchewan) and a sacrifice fly off the bat of freshman Zeke Minic (Thornton, Colo.).

The Cougars scored a pair of runs in the third on a pair of solo home runs surrendered by MCC starting pitcher Mikey Acierno (sophomore, Thornton, Colo.). The home team put the game out of reach with two runs in the fifth and four in the sixth inning.

Acierno pitched five innings, allowed four earned runs on seven hits, three walks and six strikeouts. Sophomore Jelle Bing (Heerhugowaard, Netherlands) was charged with four runs in two-thirds of an inning. Freshman Zack Lane (Phoenix, Ariz.) pitched the final one-third inning, allowing a hit.

MCC was held to five hits in the game, Murdoch had two.

GAME 2 –McCook CC 13, Western Nebraska 5: MCC broke open a scoreless tie in the fifth inning with a leadoff single by sophomore Daegen Morcom, a double by sophomore Tyus Chudomelka (Bellevue) and a Cougar error to give MCC a 2-0 lead.

In the sixth inning, MCC went up 5-0 on a Cougar error, a walk, an RBI-groundout by Morcom and a two-run single by Chudamelka.

Myles Chabi kept the Cougars off the scoreboard until the sixth inning when Western Nebraska scored three unearned runs to cut the MCC lead to 4-3. Chabi pitched six innings, allowing four hits, one earned run, two walks and seven strikeouts.

MCC added to the lead in the seventh with a pair of walks and a hit batter and a two-run single by Morcom and a three-run home run by Michael Quick to lead 10-4.

Rocky Yates (redshirt freshman, Sydney, Australia) pitched a scoreless seventh and MCC scored three runs in the eighth on a three-run homer by Morcom. Yates finished out the game on the mound allowing an unearned run over three innings, four hits, one walk and two strikeouts.

MCC had 11 hits in the game led by three from Morcom, along with six RBIs, and two-hit games from Chudamelka, Quick and Alliskair Descartes (Thornton, Colo.).