MCC Baseball comes back to defeat Western Nebraska 11-10 in Region IX Tournament

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The McCook Community College baseball team came from behind in the eighth inning Friday to open the second round of the Region IX double-elimination tournament with a 11-10 win over Western Nebraska at UCHealth Field.

After leading 9-3 in the fourth inning, MCC had to claw back into the game in the eighth and got a two-out, bases-loaded two-run single by freshman Michael Quick (Oshawa, Ontario) to reclaim the lead and hold on in the ninth inning.

"It was a fun game, pretty exciting in the bottom of the eighth and the ninth," said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. "It's a fun atmosphere and we want to keep it going."

MCC will take on Otero Junior College Saturday at noon (CT). The Rattlers were a 6-5 winner over top-seeded Southeast Community College in the opening game Friday.

Western Nebraska and Southeast Community College faced off in the elimination game late Friday with Southeast eliminating the Cougars 11-6. The loser of the Otero/MCC game Saturday will take on Southeast in an elimination game with the winner moving on to the first of two possible championship games Sunday in the double-elimination tournament.

On Friday, Western Nebraska scored the first runs of the game in the first on a two-out, two-run single but MCC responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Quick led off with a single, followed by a single by sophomore transfer Alliskair Descartes (Thornton, Colo.) and a walk by Ethan Murdoch (sophomore, Swift Current, Saskatchewan) to load the bases. An RBI-single by Josh Maysonave (sophomore, Austin, Texas) drove in the first run. Abel Reyes (sophomore, Puerto Caimito, Panama) had an RBI-groundout to tie the game and freshman Jason Serafinchon (Spruce Grove, Alberta) had an RBI-groundout to put MCC up 3-2 and Maysonave scored on a wild pitch to five MCC a 4-2 lead.

A Cougar error with two outs in the second opened the door for MCC and Reyes singled in a pair of runs to give MCC a 6-2 edge.

Western scored an unearned run in the third off MCC starter Myles Chabi (Sydney, Australia), but MCC came back to score two runs in the bottom of the inning on a two-out, two run Descartes single. Freshman Zeke Minic (Thornton, Colo.) singled home a run in the fourth to put MCC on top 9-3.

In the Western fifth, the Cougars scored a run to make it a 9-4 game. Chabi pitched two outs into the sixth inning before giving way to reliever Mikey Acierno (sophomore, Thornton, Colo.). Chabi allowed three earned runs and seven hits over 5.2 innings, allowing one walk and striking out five.

The Cougars scored six runs in the seventh to take a 10-9 lead and MCC was unable to answer with any runs in the bottom of the inning.

"We put up nine runs in the first four innings then didn't score again until the eighth, so it was good to keep playing especially after the six-run seventh," Olsen said.

Freshman Jereniel Herrera (Panama City, Panama), who relieved with two outs in the seventh shut out Western in the top of the eighth. Reyes led off the bottom of the seventh with a double, Serafinchon walked and Minic singled. With two out, Quick delivered the clutch two-run single to put MCC up 11-10.

Herrera picked up the win closing out the ninth with two flyouts, a single and a strikeout to send his team on to Saturday's game with Otero.

"Chabi gave us a real good start and Herrera was really good, and obviously Quick had a huge hit," said Olsen.

MCC played the Rattlers four times this season and won all four games in McCook April 1-2 by the scores of 16-5, 14-7, 6-4, and 13-5.

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

REGION IX CROSS - DIVISION

CROSS-DIVISION PLAYOFFS

Best-Of-Three Series

MAY 4

Otero JC 13, Northeastern JC 3, 7-innings, (at Otero)

MAY 5

McCook 12, Lamar 2 (at McCook)

Northeastern JC 10, Otero JC 5 (at Otero)

Otero JC 3, Northeastern JC 1 (at Otero); Otero wins series 2-1

Western Nebraska 24, Trinidad State 12, (at Trinidad)

MAY 6

McCook 20, Lamar 13 (at McCook); McCook wins series 2-0

Western Nebraska 13, Trinidad State 9 (at Trinidad). Western wins series 2-0

REGION IX TOURNAMENT

FINAL FOUR DOUBLE-ELIMINATION

(All times MT)

FRIDAY May 12

Game 1 - Otero JC 6, Southeast CC 5

Game 2 – McCook CC 11, Western Nebraska 10

Game 3 – Southeast CC 11, Western Nebraska 6 (Western Nebraska eliminated)

SATURDAY GAMES

Game 4 – Otero JC (24-33) vs. McCook CC (36-21), noon

Game 5 – Game 4 loser vs Southeast CC (39-16), 5 p.m. (Elimination game)

SUNDAY

Game 6 – Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 1 p.m.

Game 7 (If Necessary) – Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser, 5 p.m.