MCC Baseball to face Luna in tournament
The McCook Community College baseball team will open Region IX Tournament play Thursday at noon against Luna Community College. The tournament will be held at Damon Runyon Field Sports Complex in Pueblo, Colo.
Northeastern Junior College won the regular season title with a 24-4 mark and received a first round bye in the double-elimination tournament. Southeast Community College (18-10) overtook MCC (18-10) on the final day of the regular season Friday to claim second place in the standings by virtue of a tiebreaker. The Bobcats won three of four games in their series and also earned a first-round bye.
MCC is the third seed and will play sixth-seeded Luna Community College (10-18) in the opening game of the tournament Thursday at noon. Western Nebraska (14-14) is the fourth seed and will play fifth seeded Otero College (11-17) at 3 p.m. Thursday. The final game Thursday will be an elimination game between the losers of Games 1 and Game 2 at 6 p.m.
On Friday the winner of the McCook-Luna game will play Southeast Community College at noon. The winner of the Western Nebraska-Otero matchup will face Northeastern JC at 3 p.m. The final game Friday will be between the winner of Thursday’s elimination game and the lowest seeded remaining one-loss team.
Double-elimination play continues Saturday and Sunday.
Region IX will have two representatives in the district tournament this year. NJC by winning the regular season qualifies as one team and the top finisher among the other teams if NJC doesn’t win the tournament, would become the second team to represent Region IX in the district tournament.
“I think we have a really good team. One that is capable of winning the region. We’ve pitched extremely well at times and hit well at times and we weren’t at full-strength when the losing streak started but I think we’re back to being healthy on the mound and for our position players,” said Olsen. “I’m excited for the opportunity to make this an even more memorable season.”
THE INDIANS: MCC averages 10.3 runs per game – tops in Region IX and 12th in the nation, with 103 home runs (16th in the NJCAA), 96 stolen bases, a .332 batting average, a .599 slugging average and a team ERA of 6.46 which was also tops in the region along with a league-best rate of 1.67 walks and hits allowed per inning. The Indians went 11-9 against the region teams in the post-season tournament
OFFENSIVELY, the Indians are led by six players who hit nine or more home runs and nine regulars who batted higher than .300. Freshman leadoff hitter and center fielder Owen Weales batted .348 with a .468 on-base average and hit 11 home runs. Freshman shortstop Kon Yoshimura spent most of the year as the No. 9 hitter but moved into the No. 2 slot over the final week of the season. He hit .381 with a 519 on-base average and six homers. He led the team with 17 stolen bases.
Jakoby Hamer (6-8 freshman first baseman) hit .338 and slugged 646 with 14 homers and 68 RBIs. He was fifth in the region in home runs and third in RBIs. Sophomore outfielder Dalton Berg led the team and was third in Region IX with 17 home runs and hit .341 with 57 RBIs. Hunter Southey, sophomore third baseman hit .318 with 12 homers and 63 RBIs (fourth most in the region.)
Sophomore Connor Charvat hit .330 with 12 homers and 33 RBIs while freshman catcher/DH Kieren Cutler hit .313 with nine home runs and 51 RBIs. Sophomore catcher Tyler Reyburn batted .339 with three homers and 33 RBIs. Freshman Bunji Nakao came on late in the year to lead the team with a .426 average in 47 at bats. Sophomore outfielder Chase Williams batted .344 with a .491 on-base average in 90 at bats and sophomore outfield/DH Corbin Lochhead hit .278 with six homers in 79 at bats.
ON THE MOUND: Sophomore Tait Anderson, 6-5 lefthander, led MCC with a 9-1 record was tied for the ninth most wins in the nation) and leads Region IX in wins ERA (3.30) and second in strikeouts (79) in 60 innings pitched. Sophomore Aviv Bobrov went 3-5 in 60 innings with a 6.15 ERA (third best in Region IX) along with 71 strikeouts.
Freshman Mikah Targett went 7-2 with 42 strikeouts in 43 innings with a 6.60 ERA. Sophomore leftie Tobey Casino went 2-0 with 30 strikeouts in four games started in 24 innings with a 3.38 ERA. Raul Romero had seven starts with a 1-1 record, 7.09 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 33 innings. Out of the bullpen freshman Nolan Jackson went 6-2 with two saves and a 3.67 ERA and struck out 37 hitters in 34 innings.
MCC VS. LUNA – The two teams played a four-game series April 17-18 at the Jaycees Sports Complex with the Indians winning three of the four games... In Game 1 MCC’s Tait Anderson and Luna’s Drayton Clay hooked up for a seven-inning pitcher’s duel that the Indians won 1-0 on a third-inning solo home run by Connor Charvat. Anderson tossed a four-hit shutout with no walks and eight strikeouts on a day that temperatures were in the 30s with wind gusts in the upper 30s…. In Game 2 the Indians trailed 2-1 in the fourth inning but got two-run homeruns from Corbin Lochhead and Owen Weales as MCC went on to a 10-7 win… In Game 3 MCC committed three errors contributing to four unearned runs as Luna snapped what had been a 10-game win streak with a 5-4 win… In Game 4, the Tribe erupted for eight runs in the third inning as freshman starting pitcher Mikah Targett picked up the 14-2 win, as his offense hammered out 15 hits including seven for extra bases along with eight walks. Kon Yoshimura led the way with three hits and four RBIs.
“I think it will be a very good test for us in Game 1,” said Olsen. “Everybody says it in a tournament like this but if we get that first win you give yourself a good shot and we’re going in with the mind-set to win this tournament.”
THE ROUGHRIDERS – The team from Las Vegas, N.M. went 5-15 against the five other teams in this year’s post-season tournament. They began the season losing three of four at Scottsbluff and split four games with Lamar for a 3-5 start in March. LCC was swept by SCC at Beatrice then lost three of four games at home to NJC and losing three of four at McCook to fall to 5-15 before splitting four games in La Junta, Colo. against Otero and had to win three of four games against Trinidad to finish in a tie for sixth place in the standings, but earned the tie-breaker over Lamar.
“They had to go match Lamar this past weekend to get into the playoffs and Lamar played before Luna did so they had the pressure on them to win three out of four to win the tie-breaker, so they come in with some momentum,” said Olsen.
LCC averages 6.9 runs a game with 59 home runs, 35 stolen bases, a team batting average of .310 and a slugging mark of .503. The team ERA is 11.73, which ranks 148th among 158 NJCAA teams.
Freshman pitcher/infielder Jarren Villa leads Luna with a .397 average and led the team on the mound with 38 strikeouts in 38.1 innings with an 0-6 record and a 9.86 ERA.
John Escobar, freshman, is a .385 hitter who led the team with 48 RBIs. Simon Molina leads the team with 13 home runs with 38 RBIs. He also led the team with a 4-0 record as a pitcher with a 6.75 ERA. Drayton Clay went 3-3 with a 9.44 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 41 innings, Jackson Jolly was 3-2 with a 15.22 ERA and Erick Leyva was 3-5 with an 11.92 ERA in 25 innings.
FINAL REGION IX Standings
Northeastern JC 24-4 .857 (40-14)
Southeast CC * 18-10 .643 (27-23)
McCook CC 18-10 .643 (39-17)
Western Nebraska 14-14 .500 (22-23)
Otero College 11-17 .393 (19-35
Luna CC * 10-18 .357 (17-35)
(Did not qualify for post-season tournament)
Lamar CC 10-18 .357 (22-32)
Trinidad State 7-31 .350 (14-41)
* - won tie-breaker
Region IX-Tournament
Damon Runyon Field Sports Complex - Pueblo, Colo.
May 6-9
Thursday May 7
Game 1 – MCC vs. Luna, 11 am
Game 2 – Western Nebraska vs. Otero, 2 p.m.
Game 3 – Losers of Game 1 vs. Losers Game 2 (elimination game)
Friday, May 8
Game 4 – Winner of Game 2 vs. Northeastern JC, 11 a.m.
Game 5 – Winner of Game 1 vs. Southeast Community College, 2 p.m.
Game 6 – Winner Game 3 vs. lowest remaining seed with one loss, 5 p.m.
Saturday, May 9
Game 7 – Game 6 Winner vs. highest seed remaining with one loss, 11 a.m.
Game 8 – Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, 2 p.m.
Game 9 – Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Loser, 5 p.m.
Sunday, May 10
Game 10 – Game 8 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner, 11 a.m.
Game 11 – If necessary, 2 p.m.
Western District Tournament
At site of Region IX Tournament winner
May 15-18
DIVISION 1 JUCO WORLD SERIES
Sam Suplizio Field – Grand Junction, Colo.
May 24, 25th, or 26th – Juco World Series begins
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