No. 15 Reivers down MCC in extra-innings, 11-10
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – The McCook Community College baseball team gave up four runs in the ninth inning Saturday against No. 15 Iowa Western Community College and lost in the bottom of the 10th to the Reivers 11-10.
“This was a tough way to go down today, up four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs and couldn’t get it done,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen.
Iowa Western went up early in the game, scoring twice in the first inning and went up 3-0 with a run in the second off MCC starting pitcher Aviv Bobrov (Shekhanya, Israel).
MCC responded with six runs in the fifth inning. Freshman Kon Yoshimura (Nagasaki, Japan) got things started with a two-run triple and came home to tie the game 3-3 on a passed ball. The Indians started another rally with back-to-back-to-back singles from freshman, Owen Weales (Bowmanville, Ontario), sophomore transfer Hunter Southey (Auckland, New Zealand) and freshman Jakoby Hamer (Edmonton, Alberta) to make it 5-3. Reyburn drove home Hamer to give MCC the 6-3 lead.
“I thought we did a good job of staying in the game getting down early, then getting a big inning to go up but then continuing to add on each inning to build a lead,” said Olsen.
MCC added a run in the fifth inning on a leadoff double by freshman Hayden Galvin (Calgary, Alberta), a passed ball and an RBI-groundout with sophomore Chase Williams (Brampton, Ontario) batting. IWCC came back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to make it a 7-5 MCC lead.
Bobrov pitched 5.2 innings, allowing six hits, three earned runs, two walks and three strikeouts.
“I thought Aviv was pretty good today, he did a nice job of keeping them off balance,” said Olsen.
Sophomore Raul Romero (Brisbane, Queensland Australia), a transfer from Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Fla., pitched the final out in the sixth and after hitting two of the first three batters he faced in the seventh was removed for a reliever. Romero allowed one earned run and struck out one and hit two batters. He was relieved by freshman Nolan Jackson (Grimsby, Ontario). The Reivers were able to score a run in the inning to cut the MCC lead to 7-6.
The Indians took advantage of a hit batter and two walks in the eighth inning and scored on an RBI-groundout by Southey to go up 8-6.
In the ninth, MCC added two more runs on a walk, a bunt by Reyburn and an RBI-singe from freshman Matthew Botticelli (Edmonton, Alberta) and a wild pitch to lead 10-6.
After Jackson gave up a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth and a walk, he got a double-play ball but IWCC rallied with a single a walk and a triple to cut the MCC lead to 10-9. Jackson got a strikeout which would have ended the game but Reyburn, the catcher, was unable to retriev the ball and the tying run scored.
“This was especially hard to swallow, when we got a strikeout to end the game and Tyler made a good block at the plate – the ball just took a bad bounce,” said Olsen.
Jackson pitched 2.2 innings, allowed five hits, walked four and struck out three.
After MCC was retired in order in the 10th inning, the Reivers got a leadoff double of sophomore reliever Tobey Cassino (Arvada, Colo.) and scored on a hit batter and two walks.
“Things have gone pretty good for us but the three losses have been rough, all three of them by one run and two by walk-offs in extra innings,” said Olsen.
IWCC out-hit MCC 11-10. The Indians had two errors to none for the Reivers.
Hamer, Botticelli and Galvin all had two-hit games, Williams and Hamer both had two RBIs.
Iowa Western goes to 10-6. MCC falls to 14-3. The two teams will conclude their series with a doubleheader Sunday starting at noon.
“We need to get ready to go again tomorrow,” said Olsen.
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