Indians lose fourth straight with 15-5 setback at Colby
COLBY, Kan. – Colby Community College sent the McCook baseball team to their fourth straight loss Monday topping the Indians 15-5 in a seven-inning game ending early by the 10-run rule.
“We have definitely run ourselves into a funk here. Not much that we are out there doing is going right and it’s really the first adversity we’ve hit this year,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen.
The Indians and Northeastern Junior College have already clinched two of the six post-season tournament slots which will be May 6-9 at Pueblo, Colo. The top two teams receive first-round byes in a double-elimination format, but second and third place Southeast Community College and Western Nebraska are gaining momentum heading into the final week of Region IX play.
“We need to find a way to get back into both the right frame of mind as well as doing things right on the field,” said Olsen. “Baseball can be a funny game, and a game of momentum, we need to find it within ourselves to be able to flip the switch.”
On Monday, Colby got a pair of two-out singles in the first to take a 1-0 lead. Sophomore Colby Kaplan (Parker, Colo.) started the game on the mound for MCC and pitched one inning, allowing one earned run on two hits and a strikeout.
The Indians got back-to-back singles in the second from freshman Matthew Botticelli (Edmonton, Alberta) and sophomore Connor Charvat (Omaha, Neb.) to take a 2-1 lead but Colby took advantage of three MCC walks in the home half of the second to reclaim the lead 3-2. Jeff Bullock (sophomore, Medicine Hat, Alberta) pitched the second inning and allowed two earned runs on three walks and a single.
In the third MCC tied the game on a Colby error, a walk and a fielder’s choice-RBI by sophomore Corbin Lochhead (Vegreville, Alberta). The Trojans got four singles and three doubles to take an 8-3 lead with five runs in the third off freshman reliever Timmy Hunt (Ashland, Neb.).
Freshman Tyler Parent (Newmarket, Ontario) pitched a hitless, scoreless fourth inning with one strikeout.
In the MCC fifth inning, sophomore transfer Hunter Southey (Auckland, New Zealand) singled in a run and later scored on a wild pitch to make it an 8-5 Colby lead. Sophomore reliever Kaden Noble (Orillia, Ontario) came on in the bottom of the inning and after two walks and two strikeouts gave up a three-run homer as the Trojans went up 11-5.
The Trojans got to reliever Kayden Frizzell (sophomore Littleton, Colo.) for four more runs in the sixth inning on five hits, a walk and two strikeouts. Sophomore Chaise Chabi (Sydney, New South Wales) pitched the final one-third inning and struck out the one batter he faced.
Colby outhit MCC 16-7 in the game and improves to 18-34 on the season.
Charvat was the only player with a two-hit game. All MCC’s hits were singles.
MCC does win the four-game non-conference season series 3-1 but falls to their fourth straight loss and 38-14 overall.
The Indians will turn their attention to Region IX, where they are 17-7 in the standings, good for second place. NJC leads the standings at 20-4, Southeast Community College is third at 15-9, Western Nebraska fourth at 14-10, Otero fifth at 10-14. Lamar and Luna are tied for sixth at 7-17 and Trinidad State is eighth at 6-18. Only the top six teams advance to the Region IX Tournament
“We need a couple guys to step up and get a few individual performances going in the right direction and then catch fire with the rest of the group and get back to playing baseball the way that we got after it the first 50 games of the year,” said Olsen. “So back to practice tomorrow.
MCC concludes the regular season Region IX schedule in Beatrice Thursday and Friday against Southeast with doubleheaders both days. The Bobcats have won six straight and are coming off a four-game sweep over Trinidad State this past weekend.
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