MCC Baseball tops Colby 14-4
After trailing 1-0 in the fourth inning, MCC got the bats rolling and hit three home runs over their final four innings and scored all 14 runs on the way to a home win at the Jaycees Sports Complex where the Indians improve to 20-5 on their home field.
“It was a beautiful day to play today, good to get out there and play well,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen.
The Indians got two-run home runs from freshman Kieren Cutler (Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador) in the fourth inning, from sophomore Dalton Berg (Frederick, Colo.) in the fifth and Ben Heathcock (Little Elm, Texas) in the seventh. MCC walked it off in the seventh inning on the 10-run rule.
"Offensively it took one time through to get going but once we got started, we stayed hot,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen.
Colby took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a solo home run of MCC starting pitcher Kayden Frizzell (sophomore, Littleton, Colo.).
The score remained 1-0 until the Indians scored three runs in the fourth inning.
Redshirt freshman Bunji Nakao (Auckland, New Zealand) led off the fourth with a single and Cutler followed with a home run to make it a 2-1 game. It was Cutler’s seventh longball of the season. Freshman Hayden Galvin (Calgary, Alberta) doubled in a run to put MCC up 3-1.
Colby came back with three runs in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead. Frizzell pitched four innings and allowed three earned runs on three hits, two walks and three strikeouts. He was relieved by sophomore Colby Kaplan (Parker, Colo.)
“I thought we got a great start out of Frizzell today, it was good to see him pitch so well,” said Olsen. “Kaplan inherited a tough spot, but he limited the damage. I thought those two sophomores pitched really well today.”
MCC continued the offensive pressure scoring a run in the bottom of the fifth on a Nakao RBI-single to tie the game. A wild-pitch put the Indians in the lead for good and Berg made it a 7-4 MCC lead with his two-run homer, his team-leading 15th of the season. The Indians scored two more runs an inning later on an RBI-single from Connor Charvat (Omaha, Neb.) and an RBI-double by freshman Owen Weales (Bowmanville, Ontario) to go up 9-4.
With that double, Weales broke MCC’s single-season doubles record today with his 24th, breaking the record held by Ethan Murdoch in 2023 with 23. During the last home series against Luna Community College Weales also broke the single-season record for number of times hit by a pitch – 17, a record which was set by Josh Swan in 2005.
Heathcock launched a two-run homer in the seventh – his second of the season. The Indians added a run on an RBI-single by freshman Hayden Galvin (Calgary, Alberta), another run on a sacrifice fly by Weales and walked it off with no outs in the seventh with an RBI-single by Nakao.
Kaplan, in his 16th appearance of the season, picked up the win in relief (1-0). He pitched the final three innings, allowing one earned run on two hits, a walk and a strikeout.
Nakao, the designated hitter from the No. 2 spot in the batting order, led MCC with three hits, scoring two runs with two RBIs. Galvin had two hits and two RBIs while the top five guys in the MCC lineup all had two RBIs: Weales, Nakao, Cutler, Berg and Heathcock.
Colby falls to 17-30 overall.
MCC extends its program-best win total and improves to 37-10 and 3-0 against Colby with the final game between the two nonconference teams set for Monday at 3 p.m. in Colby.
The Indians will be back in Region IX play Wednesday at Scottsbluff against Western Nebraska. That four-game series was moved up a day to avoid high winds expected Thursday. The Indians are 16-4 and tied with Northeastern Junior College for first place in the standings. Both teams have also clinched two of the six post-season tournament slots. Western Nebraska is tied for third place in the standings with Southeast CC at 11-9. The Cougars are 19-28 overall.
“It’s going to be a big day tomorrow with a conference series for us to get into the rest of the week, looking forward to getting back out and playing,” said Olsen.
The two teams are tentatively set to conclude the four-game set with a doubleheader at McCook starting at 2 p.m. Saturday for the final games of the year at home. Weather permitting, first pitch Saturday will be 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