Indians pull off ninth-inning comeback in 23-22 win

COLBY, Kan. – The McCook Community College baseball team pulled out a wild win Tuesday hitting a pair of two-run home runs in the ninth inning to pull out a 23-22 win at Colby Community College.

Sophomore Cory Wouters (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) hit for the cycle and went six-for-six in the game with two home runs, a triple, two doubles and eight RBIs. Freshmen Ben Heathcock (Little Elm, Texas) and Garrett Bacon (Tulsa, Okla.) both launched two-run homers in the ninth inning with the Indians down 22-18 to help spark the comeback.

“Today I really saw the sense of fight that we need,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. “We kept coming back after them when they put up runs.”

MCC had leads of 5-0 and 16-9 while the Trojans had leads of 9-5 and 22-18.

Freshmen relief pitchers Colby Kaplan (Parker, Colo.) and Tait Anderson (Auckland, New Zealand) were able to keep hold the Trojans off the scoreboard in the eighth and ninth innings to preserve the win.

“We got two huge innings at the end of the game from Colby and Tait, two huge zeros,” said Olsen.

The Indians started the game taking a 1-0 lead in the first with a leadoff walk by Nathan Hutchison (sophomore, Riverton, Wyo. and an RBI-single from freshman Dalton Berg (Frederick, Colo.). Hutchison made it 3-0 in the second with an RBI-double and a two-out two-run double by Wouters gave the Indians a 5-0 lead.

Colby scored eight runs in the second to take an 8-5 lead. Freshman Kaden Noble (Orillia, Ontario) started on the mound and was charged with four earned runs in his one-plus inning of work. Freshman Landen Zehr (Kitchener, Ontario) finished the second and into the third, allowing two earned runs in his inning of work. The Trojans added a run in the third to lead 9-5.

The Indians closed the deficit scoring three runs in the fourth on a leadoff walk by freshman Landon McKillip (Lamoni, Iowa), a Hutchison double and a three-run home run by Wouters to make it a 9-8 game.

MCC tied the game in the fifth 9-9 then added seven more runs starting off the inning with a walk, a single, a Colby error, and a hit batter. Hutchison broke a 9-9 tie with a two-run double, freshman Corbin Lochhead (Vegreville, Alberta) followed with a two-run single to put MCC up 13-9 and Wouters tripled in two more and later made it a 16-9 game scoring on an RBI-double by freshman Ben Heathcock (Little Elm, Texas).

A pair of leadoff walks, back-to-back MCC errors and a two-run homer led to five Colby runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 16-14 MCC lead. Sophomore Jean Duran, who took over on the mound in the third went 2.1 innings and allowed five runs but only one was earned.

The Indians got two runs back in the sixth on a two-run Wouters home run to put MCC ahead 18-14.

Colby punched back in the bottom of the inning with a walk and a two-run home run to cut the deficit to 18-16 with freshman Julian Alvarez (Vaughan, Ontario) on the mound. He pitched the final two-thirds of the fifth and was charged with two earned runs in the sixth, he allowed two hits and a walk in his outing. With no outs, freshman reliever Aviv Bobrov (Shekhanya, Israel) gave up a double to the first batter he faced and an MCC error led to one run and a triple tied the game at 18-18.

The Trojans hit a two-out, three-run homer in the seventh and followed that up with a solo shot to lead 22-18. Bobrov pitched two innings and gave up four hits three walks and five earned runs.

Neither team scored in the eighth, as Colby Kaplan held the Trojans off the scoreboard on one hit

MCC climbed back into the game with a two-run homer by Heathcock and a two-run homer by Bacon to tie the game 22-22. McKillip walked with no outs, went to second on a wild pitch and scored what would be the winning run on an infield single and error by the shortstop with freshman Mason Regan (Centennial, Colo.) batting.

“I was happy offensively regardless of the outcome, but our ninth inning topped it off, down four, hitting a pair of homeruns then taking the lead. I’m just really happy for our guys and with the effort,” said Olsen.  

Anderson walked the first Trojan in the bottom of the ninth but set down the final three batters in order, to pick up the save.

MCC outhit Colby 21-15.

“I’m not sure I’ve seen a day like Cory had today, since Tommy Barnes had a four-home run game in 2010,” said Olsen. “I’m happy for him and it went a long way to the win too.”

In addition to the six-hit game from Wouters and 16 total bases, the Indians got three-hit games from Hutchison, Berg and Heathcock, four RBIs from Hutchison and three from Heathcock.

Colby goes to 22-11 on the season. These two teams will play again in McCook on April 14 and April 22.

MCC improves to 14-17 and the team will play a home-and-home, four-game series this weekend against Northeastern Junior College. The series begins with two games in Sterling, Colo. Friday starting at 2 p.m. then return to McCook Sunday for games starting at 1 p.m. at the Jaycees Sports Complex.

NJC is 5-3 in the region and 19-16 overall while MCC is 3-5 in the region standings.

For all the latest information about MCC baseball including schedule and schedule changes, livestream links, statistics, rosters, photos and more please visit the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com