Hawks snap MCC’s nine-game win streak

The Northeast Community College baseball team ended MCC’s nine-game win streak by taking the second game of a Saturday doubleheader at the Jaycees Sports Complex. MCC won the opener 10-6 and lost the second game 5-4 and left the tying run on third base.

“It was good to get three out of four on the weekend, but I felt like we left one on the table, obviously we had an opportunity to tie it there at the end but didn’t get it done,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen.

In Game 1 MCC scored four runs in the second, added two in the fourth, three in the fifth and one in the sixth and held on for the win.

“In reality we gave up too many free passes in Game 2, it’s tough to win when we free pass 11 guys in a 7-inning game,” said Olsen.

The Hawks go to 9-7 on the season.

MCC goes to 12-2.

“It was good to get back-to-back four-game series the past two weekends because that is what we’ll have to do in league,” said Olsen. “We’re still learning our team and they are getting into the year but there’s been some real positives so far.”

After getting in eight home games in February and going 7-1, the Indians will be on the road for their next eight games starting with a Wednesday trip to Scottsbluff for a non-conference doubleheader against Western Nebraska Community College.

MCC will travel to Council Bluffs, Iowa next weekend for a three-game series against 13th-ranked Iowa Western Community College.

“We need to keep getting better, we have a mid-week test this week at Western and then another good test next weekend at Iowa Western, but hope to keep moving in the right direction as we get closer to league starting,” said Olsen

GAME 1 – McCook CC 10, Northeast CC 6: The Indians never trailed scoring four runs in the second and adding two in the fourth, three in the fifth and one in the sixth inning.

Dalton Berg walked to lead off the second and MCC got back-to-back singles from sophomore Mason Regan (Centennial, Colo.) and Kieren Cutler (Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador) for the first run. After a single by freshman Hayden Galvin (Calgary, Alberta), sophomore Chase Williams (Brampton, Ontario) singled in two runs. He later made it 4-0 on an RBI groundout with Owen Weales (Bowmanville, Ontario) batting.

Williams led off the fourth inning with a single and freshman Kon Yoshimura (Nagasaki, Japan). When Weales attempted a sacrifice bunt it turned into a bunt single to load the bases for sophomore Hunter Southey (Auckland, New Zealand) who’s sacrifice fly scored Williams and a Hawk error made it a 6-0 MCC lead.

Freshman, Mikah Targett (Sydney, New South Wales Australia) pitched the first four innings for MCC, allowing one hit, four walks, no runs and four strikeouts.

In the MCC fifth, two walks and another NECC error led to one run and Yoshimura’s two-run-single put MCC up 9-0.

Northeast got on the scoreboard with two runs off MCC reliever Timmy Hunt (freshman, Ashland, Neb.) on a walk, a passed ball, a single, a wild pitch and a groundout.

Freshman Jakoby Hamer (Edmonton, Alberta) hit a solo home run in the sixth to make it a 10-2 game.

Two Indian errors led to four unearned runs for the Hawks in the seventh. Hunt went 2.2 innings, allowed two earned runs on three hits, one walk and three strikeouts. Sophomore Colby Kaplan (Parker, Colo.) recorded the final out on the mound for MCC.

“I was disappointed with the way Game 1 ended, we were just really sloppy in the sixth and seventh and I felt like that carried over to Game 2 as well and got us off to a slow start,” said Olsen.

MCC committed four errors in the game and NECC had three.

The Indians outhit the Hawks 10-4 with Regan leading the way with three and Williams had two.

GAME 2 – Northeast CC 5, McCook CC 4: The Hawks snapped MCC’s nine-game winning streak with the one-run win.

The Indians got up 1-0 in the second. Sophomore transfer Bunji Nakao (Auckland, New Zealand) singled with one out and later scored on an Owen Weals RBI-single.

An MCC error opened the door for the Hawks in the thirds as the Hawks took a 3-1 lead on two singles, a walk and two hit batters. Freshman Isiah Lopez (Midland, Texas) pitched 2.1 innings, allowed two hits, one walk and two earned runs with two strikeouts.

In the fourth, NECC got another run off freshman reliever Tyler Parent (Newmarket, Ontario) on a hit batter, a stolen base and a two-out RBI double to lead 4-1. Parent pitched two innings, allowed two hits, one earned run, no walks and four strikeouts.

The Indians scored twice in the bottom of the fourth to cut the deficit to 4-3. Kon Yoshimura singled with one out, Weals doubled him home and later scored on an RBI-groundout by Hunter Southey.

The Hawks scored a run in the sixth with two outs on three hit batters and a walk to lead 5-3 off sophomore reliever Jeff Bullock (Medicine Hat, Alberta). The Indians got that run back in the bottom of the inning with a pair of Northeast errors and a sacrifice fly by Jacoby Hamer.

In the seventh, Mason Regan hit a one-out double and advanced to third on a wild pitch but the Indians left the tying run stranded.

Bullock pitched 1.1 innings, allowing no hits, walked two and struck out two. Colby Kaplan pitched the final 1.1 innings, allowing no runs or hits while striking out three.

MCC out-hit NECC 9-4 with two hit games from Regan, Weales and Hamer. MCC pitchers walked three but hit eight batters.

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