Indians sweep Lamar series with two Saturday wins

The McCook Community College baseball team swept a Saturday doubleheader against Lamar to take all four games of the opening Region IX series. The Indians won 14-8 and 20-10 to stretch their win streak to seven games.

“It was good to get both wins today and the weekend sweep,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. “I felt for a lot of the day we were good but had lapses where we weren’t very sharp.”

In the opening game, Freshman Matthew Botticelli (Edmonton, Alberta) homered twice in an eight-run fourth inning and freshman Kon Yoshimura (Nagasaki, Japan) lined a two-run homer to make a winner of sophomore starting pitcher Tait Anderson (Auckland, New Zealand) who fanned nine hitters in five innings. Sophomore Colby Kaplan (Parker, Colo.) closed the game out with two innings of relief.

“I will give credit to our position guys they battled all day long, it was not easy to play, some of our guys were on their feet playing for six hours both days, obviously it was hotter than normal for our springs and we hung tough,” said Olsen.

MCC broke up a 7-7 tie in the fifth inning of Game 2 exploding for nine runs and sending 13 hitters to the plate as sophomore designated hitter Corbin Lochhead (Vegreville, Alberta) had an RBI-double to start the inning and clubbed a two-run homer to end the scoring in the inning. He finished with four hits and hit for the cycle. Sophomore transfer Hunter Southey (Auckland, New Zealand) went three-for-four with four RBIs and sophomore Chase Williams (Brampton, Ontario) went four-for-four with three runs scored and one walk.

“We felt like if we could stay in the game long enough in Game 2, we had some bullpen guys that could be effective at the end of the game,” said Olsen. “I think Lamar has some guys that can swing the bat and they kept fighting back when we scored,” said Olsen. 

Lamar falls to 0-4 to start Region IX plan and 12-18 overall.

MCC starts off 4-0 in the region and goes to 21-5 overall.

“Four-game sweeps don’t come along every weekend in our league so it’s hard to complain too much. I am proud of our guys,” said Olsen.

The Indians will be on the road to Garden City, Kan. Tuesday for a nine-inning game then return home for a four-game series against Region IX for Otero College. Doubleheaders are set for Friday and Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Jaycees Sports Complex.

GAME 1 – McCook CC 14, Lamar CC 8: Matthew Botticelli’s second inning double and a wild pitch put MCC on the scoreboard in the second and Chase Williams singled in Botticelli to put the Indians up 2-0.

After Lamar scored a run in the third, MCC responded with a run in the bottom of the inning. Kon Yoshimura doubled and freshman Owen Weales (Bowmanville, Ontario) singled with Yoshimura scoring on a double-play groundball to put MCC up 3-1.

MCC exploded for eight runs in the fourth and scored three times in the fifth. Botticelli homered to lead off the inning. Williams drove in a run and Yoshimura hit a two-run shot to put MCC up 7-1. After a Weales double, sophomore Tyler Reyburn (Frederick, Colo.) singled in a run and with two out Botticelli swatted his second homer of the inning and fifth of the season to give MCC an 11-1 lead.

MCC’s defense had a lapse in the Lamar fifth as the Lopes sent 10 batters to the plate and scored four runs on three singles, two hit batters, a walk, two errors, a wild pitch and a passed ball to cut MCC’s lead to 11-5.

“It’s a little disappointing we didn’t put Game 1 away when we had the chance,” said Olsen. 

A one-out Lamar error in the fifth, opened the door for the Indians who took advantage with an RBI-single by Weales and a two-out double by freshman Jakoby Hamer (Edmonton, Alberta) put MC up 14-5.

Anderson pitched five innings for MCC, allowing six hits, one walk, two hit batters and he struck out nine.

Colby Kaplan pitched the final two innings, allowing three hits, no earned runs, no walks and two strikeouts.

Botticelli led the offense with three hits in four at bats, three runs scored, four RBIs and 10 total bases. Yoshimura had a homer, a double and a single, Weales had two doubles and a single and the Indians got two-hit games by Hamer and Williams.

The Indians committed two errors leading to four unearned runs.

GAME 2 – McCook CC 20, Lamar 10: MCC scored a run in the first on a two out-single by Jakoby Hamer and an RBI-triple by Hunter Southey.

Lamar scored four runs in the third inning off MCC freshman starter Mikah Targett (Sydney, New South Wales Australia).

Trailing 4-1 in the third, freshman Hayden Galvin (Calgary, Alberta) powered a solo home run to right field. After a Hamer walk, Southey doubled home a run and Matthew Botticelli tied the game 4-4 with an RBI single. Freshman Kieren Cutler (Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador) hit a sacrifice fly to put MCC in the lead, 5-4. Chase Williams singled in a run then with two outs Weales doubled in Williams to put MCC up 7-4.

The Lopes hit a leadoff home run in the fourth to chase Targett from the game. He gave up five earned runs on seven hits, two walks and two strikeouts through three-plus innings. Two batters later, Lamar tied the game with a two-run homer off freshman reliever Timmy Hunt (Ashland, Neb.) who gave up two earned runs, on one hit and he hit a batter.

Tied 7-7 in the fifth, MCC scored nine runs highlighted by an RBI-double by Corbin Lochhead, two-run singles by Galvin and Southey, an RBI-single from Cutler and a two-run home run to right field by Lochhead to put MCC up 16-7.

Lamar scored three runs in the sixth off freshman Justin Ackerman (Parksville, British Columbia), in his second inning of relief. He went 1.2 innings, allowing three earned runs on three hits, two walks and three strikeouts.

The Indians got a run back in the bottom of the sixth on a triple by Hamer and an RBI-single from Botticelli. MCC was able to end the game on the 10-run rule in the seventh with an error, two walks, an RBI-groundout by Weales and a two-run single by Hamer.

Freshman Nolan Jackson (Grimsby, Ontario) pitched the final 1.1 innings of scoreless relief walking one and striking out two.

Williams and Lochhead led the 19-hit MCC offense with four hits each. Hamer and Southey had three with Galvin and Botticelli having two-hit games. Southey drove in four with Weales, Galvin and Lochhead all having three RBIs each.

MCC hitters allowed 11 hits, walked five, hit two batters, and struck out seven.

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