Submitted by By Kevin Klaman, Star-Herald Sports Reporter
The bad news came early for the Western Nebraska Community College baseball team when the Cougars played host to Northeastern Junior College in a doubleheader at Cleveland Field in Scottsbluff on Wednesday.
WNCC, which was battling both Otero Junior College and Trinidad State Junior College for the final spot in next week's conference tournament, received word that Otero had already swept Trinidad State in a doubleheader earlier in the day.
That meant the Cougars would have to sweep its doubleheader against NJC in order to earn the a spot in the conference tournament.
Although the Cougars took the field with that ultimate goal in mind, NJC proved too much to overcome as the Plainsmen swept both games by scores of 4-2 and 6-5.
"It's extremely disappointing," WNCC coach Mike Jones said. "It's been a season of ups and downs, and down the stretch we just didn't play very well."
WNCC will miss the tournament this year after winning the tournament championship last year.
In the first game on Wednesday, the teams battled to a scoreless tie through four and a half innings before the Cougars finally took the advantage in the bottom of the fifth as Josh Guber singled in Greg Crowe.
WNCC plated another run in the sixth inning when Crowe blasted a run-scoring single to score Rich Miller, which gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead.
However, in the final inning, the game changed for the worse for the Cougars as NJC plated four runs on five hits to take a 4-2 lead.
The Plainsmen tied the game thanks to a two-run home run by Josh Warren and added two more runs before the inning was over.
"In the first game, I thought we played a really good ball game," Jones said. "I thought our intensity was good, our attitude was good and our approach to the game was real good. We just came up short."
Rudy Soto threw six scoreless innings for WNCC on the mound before allowing the two-run home run in the seventh. He allowed seven hits, walked three and struck out six.
"I thought Rudy pitched an excellent game for us," Jones said. "I thought he pitched with a lot of heart and gave us everything he had. He held them scoreless all the way into the seventh and then they got to him in the seventh inning. That's unfortunate for us."
Crowe finished the first game going 3-for-3 with one RBI. However, he was the only Cougar with multiple hits in the game.
In the second game, emotions boiled over as the Cougars struggled in what became a meaningless game because of Otero's wins.
The Plainsmen quickly jumped ahead with two runs in the first inning.
WNCC battled back and took the lead in the third inning, but allowed four runs in the fourth and fifth innings as NJC pulled ahead 6-3.
The Cougars managed to bring the game within one in the final frame, 6-5, but it would be the closest they would come as the Plainsmen earned the win.
"We had a lot of guys that emotionally were spent," Jones said. "Everybody was disappointed from losing the [first] ball game, knowing that was going to put us in fifth place in the conference and out of the playoff chase. It was tough to come out and even play the second game."
WNCC's Carlos Garcia went 2-for-3 in the second game and Guber went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Aurelio Monteagudo finished with a home run and three RBI.
With WNCC now out of the playoff race, Jones said his team will not play its final scheduled regular-season contest against the Colorado State club team on Tuesday. But, although the Cougars have now played their final game of the season, Jones is confident that none of his sophomores have played the final game of their careers.
"I think every single one of them is going to go on and play," Jones said. "They've got some scholarship offers out. Some guys are still looking for a place, but they're all going to find a place to play."
First Game
NJC 000 000 4 - 4 11 1
WNCC 000 011 0 - 2 6 2
LP -- Soto.
Second Game
NJC 200 130 0 - 6 6 1
WNCC 003 000 2 - 5 9 4
LP -- Javins; HR -- A. Monteagudo.
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