Indians split Wednesday baseball games with WNCC
SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. – The McCook Community College baseball team split a pair of blowout games against Western Nebraska Community College Wednesday on the road. The Indians won the first game 12-3 and lost the second game 19-9.
In Game 1, the Indians overcame a 2-1 deficit with two home runs in the fifth inning, hit three homers in the sixth inning, and another in the seventh on the way to a 12-3 win over the Cougars. Sophomore Connor Charvat (Elkhorn South HS, Neb.) hit a pair of homers to help sophomore Tait Anderson (Auckland, New Zealand) win a league-best ninth game of the year on the mound.
“Tait was really good again in Game 1 and kept us in it until we were able to get our offense going, which late in the game,” said Olsen. “We were really good late, got a bunch of good swings.”
In Game 2, Western Nebraska beat up on the MCC pitching staff, belting out 16 hits and drawing 11 walks in a game shortened to seven innings on the 10-run rule.
“We have had very few games this year where are pitching hasn’t kept us right there in it,” said Olsen. “Today was one of those but we’ll bounce back Friday.”
This split four-game series will return to McCook for the final two games. Weather has moved the originally scheduled doubleheader between the two teams up a day to Friday starting at 1 p.m. This will be the final regular season home games for MCC.
Western Nebraska goes to 12-10 in the Region IX standings and 20-29 overall.
MCC goes to 17-5 in the standings and 38-11 overall. The Indians remain tied with Northeastern Junior College for first place in the standings but fall a few percentage points behind the leaders.
NJC is scheduled to host Lamar in a split four-game series starting Thursday in Sterling, Colo., followed with two games in Lamar Friday. Elsewhere around Region IX, Southeast will travel to Trinidad State for four games beginning Thursday, Otero will host Luna Community College for their four-game set starting Friday.
GAME 1 – McCook CC 12, Western Nebraska 3: The Cougars gifted MCC a run in the second with an error which led to a two-out RBI-single from sophomore Corbin Lochhead (Vegreville, Alberta).
Western’s Will Harbison tied the game with a solo home run to lead off the home-half of the fourth inning then got a second solo homer from Harrison Hart to take a 2-1 lead off MCC starting pitcher Tait Anderson.
The Indians loaded up with the longball in the fifth getting back-to-back solo home runs from sophomore Connor Charvat and freshman Kon Yoshimura (Nagasaki, Japan) to put MCC up 3-2. It was Charvat’s seventh of the season and fourth for Yoshimura.
More four-base fireworks erupted for the Indians in the sixth as freshman Jakoby Hamer (Edmonton, Alberta) slammed a solo homer leading off the inning. He took over the team lead in round-trippers with his 14th but one pitch later sophomore Dalton Berg (Frederick, Colo.) launched his 14th homer to put the Indians ahead 5-2. After two MCC walks, Charvat muscled up on three-run home run to give MCC an 8-2 lead.
The Cougars got a run in the bottom of the sixth inning on a wild pitch with two outs but MCC responded in the seventh with a two-run home run by freshman Kieren Cutler (Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador) to make it a 10-3 game. Yoshimura added a sacrifice fly and freshman Owen Weales (Bowmanville, Ontario) singled in a run to make it 12-3.
Anderson picked up the complete-game win, scattering six hits over seven innings, allowing three earned runs on two walks and eight strikeouts. It was his sixth complete game of the year and he improves to 9-1. He leads Region IX pitchers in wins and in ERA (2.94.) He is second in the league with 75 strikeouts, one behind the leader.
Charvat led the 12-hit MCC offense with a four-for-four game, scoring three runs with four RBIs, a double, two homers and 11 total bases. Weales and Yoshimura had two-hit games with Yoshimura and Cutler both driving in two runs.
GAME 2 – Western Nebraska 10, McCook CC 9 (7 innings): Owen Weales singled to lead off the game, stole second base and scored on an RBI-groundout by Jacoby Hamer. Western got that run back in the bottom of the inning off MCC sophomore starter Raul Romero (Brisbane, Queensland Australia) on a leadoff double and a sacrifice fly. Kieren Cutler doubled in the second and scored on Connor Charvat’s single to put MCC up 2-1.
The Cougars sent 11 hitters to the plate in the second, scoring seven runs to take an 8-2 lead. Romero left the game after allowing six earned runs on four hits, two walks and no strikeouts. Freshman reliever Timmy Hunt (Ashland, Neb.) was touched for two more runs in the inning on two hits and a walk.
Freshman Isiah Lopez (Midland, Texas) was able to shut down the Cougar bats when he relieved in the third inning and retired the first two hitters in the fourth, but an MCC error extended the inning and WNCC singled in a run to give them a 9-2 lead.
MCC got back into the game with a five-run fifth inning. Sophomore Tyler Reyburn (Frederick, Colo.) singled to lead off the inning, Hamer was hit but a pitch and the Indians scored two runs on a Dalton Berg single and a Couger error for the first two runs of the inning. Charvat hit a three-run home run to cut the MCC deficit to 9-7.
WNCC reclaimed momentum in the home-half of the fifth with a three-run double and a two-out single to take a 13-7 lead. Lopez pitched 2.1 innings for MCC, allowing four earned runs on four hits, two walks and three strikeouts.
“We just couldn’t survive the second inning, we got a couple good innings from Lopez in the third and fourth and then jumped right back in the game with a five-spot,” said Olsen. “But gave it right back in the bottom of the fifth and never recovered which was disappointing.”
The Cougars added three more runs in the sixth inning after freshman reliever Santiago Rodriguez (Okotoks, Alberta) walked the first two batters he faced then surrendered a three-run home run to put WNCC up 16-7. Rodriguez lasted two-thirds of an inning and was relieved by sophomore Kaden Noble (Orillia, Ontario).
In the seventh inning, the Tribe took advantage of a two-out error to extend the inning and scored twice on a bases-loaded walk to Kon Yoshimura and Weales was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it a 16-9 game.
WNCC scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to end the game on the 10-run rule. Noble pitched 1.1 innings, allowing four runs on four hits and four walks.
The Cougars out-hit MCC 16-9. Weales, Reyburn and Charvat all had two-hit games for MCC with Charvat leading the team with three RBIs.
Up-to-date information about MCC baseball including up-to-date schedule and changes, livestream links for home games, rosters, photos, statistics and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com