Historic season for MCC Baseball ends
PUEBLO, Colo. – An historic season for the McCook Community College baseball team came to an end with a pair of losses to the top two seeds in the Region IX Tournament Saturday at Damon Runyon Field Sports Complex.
MCC dropped a 7-6 decision in 10 innings to Northeastern Junior College then lost 12-9 to Southeast Community College.
In Game 1 the Indians had been leading 6-5 since the fifth inning. The Plainsmen got a leadoff walk in the ninth inning on a 3-2 pitch then had what looked like a “strike-em-out, throw-em-out” doubleplay but the ball trickled out of the glove. The next batter grounded with what would have been the final out and NJC hit a game-tying single that sent the game into extra-innings
“It was a tough day to end on,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. “Game 1 was a particularly tough one to swallow. We had it won, just had a ball trickle away on an out on the stolen base that ended up tying the game. “It’s always tough then to get walked off in extras in a game to get into the region championship game.”
In Game 2, the Indians had early leads of 2-0 and 4-3 before the Bobcats had a seven-run fourth inning.
“I was proud we came out ready to go against Southeast too,” said Olsen. “We just had the one big inning that set us back, we tried to play catch up just couldn’t quite get there.”
After starting the tournament Thursday with a 14-13 win in 11 innings over Luna Community College and knocking off second-seeded Southeast CC 9-5 on Friday, MCC’s season ended with a record of 41-19, the only MCC team to win more than 40 games.
“At the end of the day we went 41-19 and set school record for wins and had a great group of guys. I’m as proud of them and how they carry themselves off the field as much as on the field,” said Olsen. “This is a special group, I just wish we could of finished off some of our goals, but they have nothing to hang our heads about.
Northeast JC and Southeast CC will play in the championship game Sunday with Southeast needing two wins.
GAME 1 – Northeastern JC 7, McCook CC 6 (10 innings): The Indians scored first on a walk to start the game from freshman Owen Weales (Bowmanville, Ontario), a single by freshman Jakoby Hamer (Edmonton, Alberta) and a sacrifice fly by Dalton Berg to make it 1-0.
The Plainsmen reclaimed the lead five pitches into the bottom of the inning on a leadoff double and a two-run home run. A walk and a double made it a 3-1 game and a two-out single brought in another run to put NJC ahead 4-1 before starting pitcher Mikah Targett (Sydney, New South Wales Australia) made it out of the inning. He was charged with four runs on five hits, a walk and a strikeout. Sophomore Tobey Cassino (Arvada, Colo.) came on to finish out the inning on the mound.
MCC responded with four straight singles to begin the second by sophomores Corbin Lochhead (Vegreville, Alberta), Hunter Southey (Auckland, New Zealand), Connor Charvat (Omaha, Neb.), and Tyler Reyburn (Frederick, Colo.) to make it a 4-2 game. Weales hit a sacrifice fly and freshman Kon Yoshimura (Nagasaki, Japan) tied the game with an RBI-single and an errant pickoff attempt at first base put MCC ahead 5-4.
NJC came back to tie the game 5-5 in the fourth inning on a two-out single and an RBI-double. Cassino pitched 3.1 innings in relief and allowed one earned run on four hits, one walk and one strikeout.
Berg popped a solo home run in the fifth inning to put the Indians in front 6-5. It was his 20th home run of the season. The Indians loaded the bases on walks in the sixth inning but didn’t score.
Freshman Santiago Rodriguez (Okotoks, Alberta) came on in relief in the bottom of the sixth and kept NJC scoreless until the bottom of the ninth. After issuing a leadoff walk, he got a strikeout, NJC stole a base and after a groundout for the second out he gave up a single to centerfield to the tie the game 6-6.
Southey led off the MCC 10th with a single but was stranded.
NJC led off the home-half of the 10th with a single and the batter advanced to second base on a comeback grounder to Rodriguez, who went 5.1 innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits, two walks and three strikeouts. Sophomore Raul Romero (Brisbane, Queensland Australia) entered the game in relief and NJC ended the game on a long double to center field to move on to the Region IX Championship on Sunday.
“Santiago gave us everything he could, and Tobey emptied the tank for us too,” said Olsen. “We just didn’t do anything offensively after the second inning.”
Berg led MCC with three hits and two RBIs. Lochhead and Southey both had two-hit games.
With the loss MCC was relegated to the elimination bracket where they took on Southeast in the late game Saturday with the winner qualifying for the district tournament.
GAME 2 – Southeastern CC 7, McCook CC 6 (11 innings): The Indians took a 2-0 lead in the first on a leadoff Bobcat error, a walk, an RBI-single by Dalton Berg and a fielder’s choice RBI-groundout by Bunji Nakao (Auckland, New Zealand).
Raul Romero who ended the first game on the mound started the second game and retired SCC in order in the first. The Bobcats took a 3-2 lead with a pair of runs in the second on a walk, a hit batter, an RBI-single, a run on a groundout and an RBI-double.
MCC reclaimed the lead with a two-run home run by Hunter Southey in the fourth to lead 4-3. It was Southey’s 13th of the year.
Southeast got to Romero in the bottom of the fourth and was relieved by Aviv Bobrov (Shekhanya, Israel) but not before the Bobcats scored seven runs to take a 10-4 lead. Romero was charged with seven runs in three innings of work allowing three hits, three walks and a strikeout. Bobrov pitched 2.2 innings and allowed three earned runs on five hits and two walks.
Weales hit a solo homer in the fifth to make it a 10-5 game. It was his 12th longball of the year. Berg singled to lead off the sixth and came home on a two-out single by Charvat to make it a 10-6 deficit. SCC got that run back in the bottom of the sixth to make it an 11-6 game.
Weales and Jakoby Hamer banged out solo home runs in the seventh to close the gap to 11-8. Weales’ second homer of the game gave him 13 for the season and for Hamer it was his 17th.
Freshman Nolan Jackson (Grimsby, Ontario) who retired the final batter in the sixth inning gave up a run in the seventh to give SCC a 12-8 lead.
MCC scored the final run of the season with two outs in the eighth inning on a Reyburn walk, a double by Weales, a walk to Yoshimura and an RBI-single by Hamer to make it a 12-9 game. The Indians went out in order in the ninth inning.
Jackson pitched the final 2.1 innings of scoreless relief, allowing one hit, one walk and he struck out two.
The Indians out-hit the Bobcats 12-9. Weales went four-for-five with three runs scored and two RBIs. Hamer and Berg both had two-hit games.
Region IX-Tournament
Damon Runyon Field Sports Complex - Pueblo, Colo.
May 7-10
Thursday’s Results
Game 1 – McCook CC 14, Luna CC 13 (11 innings)
Game 2 – Otero 5, Western Nebraska 3
Game 3 – Western Nebraska 8, Luna CC 6 (Luna CC eliminated)
Friday’s Results
Game 4 – Northeastern JC 8, Otero 2
Game 5 – McCook CC 9, Southeast Community College 5
Game 6 – Western Nebraska 16, Otero 7 (Otero eliminated)
Saturday’s Results
Game 7 – Southeast CC, 11, Western Nebraska 4
Game 8 – Northeastern JC 7, McCook CC 6 (10 innings)
Game 9 – Southeast CC 12, McCook CC 8 (McCook CC eliminated)
Sunday, May 10
Game 10 – Northeastern JC vs Southeast CC, 11 a.m.
Game 11 – If necessary, 2 p.m.
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