Monday, March 17, 2008

WNCC baseball team claims two games on Monday

PHOENIX -- The Western Nebraska Community College used a strong pitching performance in earning a sweep of their games Monday during their Spring Break trip in Arizona.

The Cougars earned a 7-4, 10 inning win against Ft. Scott Community College before taking down Gateway Community College 8-6 in the second game. The two wins came after an interesting weekend series where the Cougars dropped an 8-3 game to South Mountain College on Saturday before being snowed out in their game with Yavapai College on Sunday.

WNCC coach Mike Jones was proud of how his team played after Saturday’s loss to South Mountain.

“I am pleased with the way we came out and played,” he said. “The scores might not show how well we pitched, but we pitched really well. We also swung the bal well, getting plenty of extra base hits [in the two wins].”

Monday’s games were a case where the Cougars offense struck at the right times and received some fine pitching. In game one, Rudy Soto blew a save opportunity, only to come back and get the save against Ft. Scott. In game two, Todd Stachura picked up the win, while Kyler Edgehouse got the save.

“We pitched a lot better and played a lot better,” Jones said. “Against Ft. Scott, we found a way to win. In the second game, we made some errors in the second inning or else the game could have been something like 8-2.”

Monday’s opener went extra innings after both teams were tied at four after nine innings. In the 10th, WNCC scored three times for the win.

Offensively for the Cougars, Aurelio Monteagudo continued his torrid hitting by hitting another home run. He also had a 2-run blast in the loss to South Mountain on Saturday. Also against Ft. Scott, Norbert Sushini went 2-for-5 with a double and three RBIs, Rich Miller and Dustin Javins each going 2-for-5, and David Monteagudo going 2-for-3.

In game two, WNCC came back to get an exciting 8-6 win against Gateway. WNCC trailed 5-1 after two innings, only to go ahead 6-5 in the fifth inning. Gateway tied the game in the sixth, only to see the Cougars plate two runs in the seventh for the win.

Stachura struck out four in seven innings of work, while Kyler Edgehouse pitched the final two innings in striking out two.

Offensively, Soto went 2-for-3 with a double, while Javins also had a double. Aurelio Monteagudo also had a home run in the contest..

In Saturday’s contest, WNCC scored three runs in the first inning before giving up the lead with four runs in the bottom of the inning. South Mountain then shut down the Cougar bats in the win.

Sushini led the team from the plate with a 2-for-3 performance, including a double. Greg Crowe took the loss in that game from the mound.

WNCC will be back in action Tuesday when they face Neosho County in Arizona, followed by a make-up game with Yavapai on Wednesday, which was postponed because of snow from Sunday

First Game
WNCC 300 000 000 -- 3 5 3
S. Mountain 400 310 00x -- 8 11 1
LP -- Crowe; 2B -- Sushini, HR -- A. Monteagudo.

Second Game
WNCC 010 000 300 3 -- 7 12 2
Ft. Scott 000 020 002 1 -- 5 9 1
WP -- Soto; 2B -- Sushini.

Third Game
WNCC 011 040 200 -- 8 9 6
Gateway 050 001 000 -- 6 10 0
WP -- Stachura, Save -- Kyler Edgehouse; 2B -- Soto, Javins; HR -- A. Moneagudo.

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