MCC baseball posts trifecta of three-run innings in 9-5 Monday win over Northeast CC

NORFOLK -- The McCook Community College baseball team had three big innings Monday and five pitchers teamed up to hold Northeast Community College to five runs in MCC's 9-5 win.

"Northeast has a really nice team and they are having a good year so it was a nice day for us, it was good to get some guys some time today, just really happy about how they competed," said MCC Coach Jon Olsen.

Down 1-0 in the third inning, freshman Blake Dale (Riverton, Wyo.) led the inning off with a single. After sophomore Trent Elshire (Plattsmouth) walked, sophomore Ethan Murdoch (Swift Current, Saskatchewan) put MCC on the board with an RBI-single and freshman Jackson Yeager (Omaha Westside) followed with a two-out, two-run double to put MCC up 3-1.

In the fourth, MCC got back-to-back one-out singles from Elshire and sophomore Alliskair Descartes (Thornton, Colo.) to set the table for Murdoch who homered on a fly ball to right field. It was his 12th home run of the season and put MCC up 6-1.

Freshman Ethan Badcock (Adelade, Australia) started on the mound and went five innings, allowing one earned run on four hits, one walk and six strikeouts.

"We got a real nice start out of Ethan today," said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. "He really had control all day which had kind of caused him some hiccups this year, but he was really good today."

In the sixth, the Hawks got to reliever Victor Nane, (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) for three runs on three hits and a strikeout.

In the seventh inning, MCC got a pair of two-out walks, a single by sophomore Riley Watson (Sydney, Australia) and a three-run double by sophomore Tyus Chudomelka (Bellevue).

Freshman Zack Lane (Phoenix, Ariz.) allowed a run in the bottom of the seventh. He allowed two hits, and a walk. Ryan Heu (freshman, Brampton, Ontario) pitched a scoreless eighth inning, walking one and William Coe (freshman, North Platte, Neb.) pitched a scoreless ninth inning, allowing two hits.

"Our four guys did a nice job out of the pen, the three-spot we gave up could have been avoided but we missed a foul pop up," said Olsen.

MCC had 11 hits in the game with three by Murdoch and two apiece by Watson and Elshire.

Northeast goes to 26-9 with the loss.

MCC improves to 27-15 overall.

The team was scheduled to be home Tuesday to play Colby, but that game has been postponed but will be made up. No date has yet been set. Next up for MCC is an Empire League battle with Southeast Community College at Beatrice. The two teams will play one game Saturday (3 p.m.) and two games Sunday starting at 1 p.m.

Southeast leads the Region IX North standings at 19-3, MCC is four games back at 16-8, Northeastern Junior College third at 13-11 and Western Nebraska fourth at 5-14. The top two teams in the standings will get first-round home series in the Region IX tournament against the third and fourth place teams in the Region IX South standings.

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