Cougar baseball plays for Region IX title

Saturday's Scores
WNCC 4, McCook 2
Trinidad 6, NJC 5
WNCC 11, NJC 6
Sunday's Games
Noon -- Trinidad State vs. WNCC
3 p.m. -- Trinidad State vs. WNCC, if necessary

Special thanks to Jeremy Woznick, of the Star-Herald for taking the phone call.

LAMAR, Colo. — The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team will play for a Region IX championship after picking up two more wins Saturday in the Region IX tournament in Lamar, Colo.

The Cougars earned the right to play for the championship because of some outstanding performances. In the first game on the day, freshman Greg Crowe struck out nine in a 4-2 victory over McCook Community College. WNCC then defeated Northeastern Junior College 11-6 behind a 13-hit attack.

The wins advance the Cougars into a matchup with Trinidad State Junior College today at noon. The Trojans beat NJC 6-5 on Saturday and are unbeaten in the tournament. WNCC will have to beat the Trojans twice today to capture the tournament title.

“These guys have big hearts and they’re going to go out and give it everything they’ve got,” WNCC coach Mike Jones said. “I know they’re going to be tired. It’s going to be tougher on us than it will be on Trinidad, but I like their attitude and I think we have a great chance.”Against NJC, the Cougars erupted for nine runs on eight hits in the third inning to break the game wide open. Richie Stewart’s three-run double was one of a number of big hits in the inning.

Stewart, who went 2-for-4, was one of four Cougar hitters that finished the game with multiple hits. Daniel Martinez led WNCC’s hitting attack with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate, including a double and three runs scored. Pedro Suarez added two hits and two runs scored and Abraham Cervantes finished the game going 2-for-4 with two runs batted in and a run scored.

Todd Stachura pitched eight strong innings to earn the victory on the mound. Stachura struck out eight before Chadron’s Eric Bissonette came out of the bullpen to pitch a scoreless ninth. Against McCook, Crowe didn’t need much offensive support as he struck out a career-high nine McCook hitters in eight innings of work. Dan Bauer worked the ninth to record the save.

Offensively, WNCC scored all four of its runs in the bottom of the second. The inning was highlighted by a run-scoring triple off the bat of Gilbert Gonzalez and a RBI-single from Cervantes. Both players went 2-for-4 in the contest.

Game 1
McCook 000 002 000 — 2 6 1
WNCC 040 000 00x — 4 8 0
WP — Greg Crowe; S — Dan Bauer. 3B — Gilbert Gonzalez.

Game 2
NJC 013 001 010 — 6 8 2
WNCC (27-27) 209 000 00x — 11 13 5
WP — Todd Stachura. 2B — Daniel Martinez, Richie Stewart.