The Cougars, who lost to Trinidad State Junior College 15-0 and 13-0 on Saturday, turned the trick on the Empire Conference leading Trojans receiving a complete game pitching performance from Victor Rubio to earn a 3-2 win. The win guaranteed the Cougars the No. 2 seed and host of the first round regional playoff contest that begins Friday.
WNCC also played well in the second game as well, but came up short as a 7th-inning rally fell short and the Trojans upended the Cougars 7-6.
WNCC will open the regional playoffs on Friday against Northeastern Junior College in a best 2-out-of-3 series. The games are 9-inning. NJC split contests with Lamar Community College on Sunday, falling to Lamar 7-5 before topping the Lopes 5-4. Lamar will travel to Trinidad State in the other first round game. The winners of this weekend’s contests will play the following week at the higher seed.
WNCC coach Mike Jones said his team was relaxed today and showed a different brand of ball on the field then Saturday’s two shutouts losses.
“We had a much better day today. We got a great pitching performance out of Victor Rubio. He threw a real big ball game,” Jones said. “He was able to run the ball inside on them and mix it up with a breaking ball and change it up with a change-up. That was a big game for us because it allowed us to lock up that second place spot in conference play and gives us [first round] home field in the conference playoffs.”
Not only did they get a strong pitching performance, they also received some clutch hits as well as a stern defense.
“Getting Josh Parker back [at shortstop] makes our defense solid and it was nice to get him back in the lineup,” he said. “Then we played pretty good defense all day long.”
Jones said another reason for the turnaround between Saturday’s and Sunday’s games was playing relaxed and it showed in their offense.
“We hit the ball much better today because I thought we came out a little bit more relaxed,” he said. “We just settled in with our bats and we didn’t try to do so much. We play much better when we are relaxed because the playoffs will be intense. It will be a struggle for us to keep that even keel. We play pretty good under pressure so I am looking forward.”
Sunday’s contests had the playoff feel to it. The first game, Rubio and Trinidad pitcher Ryan Salt hooked up in a pitcher’s duel with Rubio getting the upper hand. Rubio, the sophomore from Miami, tossed a five-hitter, while striking out two and walking two. Salt allowed five hits and struck out eight in the loss.
Trinidad scored the first runs of the game in the fourth inning a single run on just two hits. WNCC, however, came right back in their half of the fourth with two runs on three hits. Shane Wade started things with a 2-out triple. Brady Sanchez followed with a run-scoring single followed by a run-scoring double by Jared Baros.
WNCC went up 3-1 with a single run in the fifth inning. Again, with two outs, Alex Arias was hit by a pitch and came around to score on a throwing error to first base off a hit by Scottsbluff’s Dallas Liptac.
Trinidad had opportunities to tie the game. In the sixth, they scored once and had the go-head run at third before the Cougars turned a double play. In the seventh, Trinidad had the tying run at second and Wade, the Cougar’s catcher, threw a strike to Trace Marsden at third base for a caught stealing.
Wade led the Cougars with a 2-for-3 performance, including a triple, run scored and a RBI. Marsden Baros each had a double in the game.
WNCC played well in the second game as well. Trinidad took a 1-0 lead after the opening frame, but WNCC answered with two runs in the second for a 2-1 lead. Ronald Miller and Oscar Rodriquez reached base via walks. Miller then scored on a Sanchez single and Rodriquez would race home on a passed ball.
Trinidad went up 4-2 in the top of the third, but the Cougars quickly answered in the bottom of the inning. Josh Parker delivered a one-out double and scored on a Miller single to slice the deficit to 4-3.
Trinidad scored once in the fourth inning on two hits for a 5-3 lead. WNCC, however, went up 6-5 with three runs in the fifth. All the runs were scored with two outs.
Parker led off the inning with single. Then, after two strikeouts, Liptac earned a walk. Rodriquez followed with a clutch 2-out single to score Parker. Sanchez earned a walk to put two players on and then Wade delivered a two RBI single to put WNCC up 6-5.
WNCC couldn’t hold the lead as Trinidad scored twice in the seventh inning on three hits for 7-6 lead. The Cougars, had the tying and go-ahead runners on before the Trojans’ centerfielder robbed Marsden of a tying single for the final out.
David Castle started the game and went four innings, giving up four runs on seven hits. Castle, a Gurnsey-Sunrise graduate, struck out two. Even Ljunghag, Cesar Perez and Ben Doran all pitched one inning, with Doren getting tagged with the loss.
WNCC finished with nine hits. Wade was 2-for-4 with a double, a stolen base and two RBIs. Parker finished the second game 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored, while Rodriquez went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a RBI.
WNCC, 25-27, will have four days to prepare for Northeastern Junior College for the first-round playoff games. Jones said they will use that time to get healthy.
“We now have to figure out who we are playing first and then we have to put together a pretty good scouting report and get our guys prepared during the week in practice for the game,” Jones said. “We also have to get healthy. We still have a bunch of guys still beat up and banged around and we have to get those guys healthy. From there we have to focus. We have some time off, now, and we need it. We will take our time and not force anything.”
Trinidad 000 101 0 – 2 6 1
WNCC 000 210 x – 3 5 1
WP – Rubio, LP – Salt; 2B – WNCC (Baros); 3B – WNCC (Wade).
Second Game
Trinidad (40-16) 102 110 2 – 7 12 2
WNCC (25-27) 021 030 0 – 6 9 2
WP – Joel Rodriquez, LP – Ben Doran; 2B – WNCC (Parker), TSJC (Zack Maes, Mick Wiggins); HR – TSJC (Vinnie Mattivi).
Baseball Region IX Standings
Team Conf. Overall
Trinidad State 24-6 40-16
WNCC 16-14 25-27
NE Colorado 15-15 21-24
Lamar 14-16 24-24
Otero 13-17 19-26
McCook 8-22 18-34
Saturday’s Games
Trinidad State 15, Western Nebraska 0
Trinidad State 13, Western Nebraska 0
NE Colorado 5, Lamar 4 (8 innings)
NE Colorado 7, Lamar 3
Sunday’s Games
Western Nebraska 3, Trinidad State 2
Trinidad State 7, Western Nebraska 6
Lamar 7, NE Colorado 5
NE Colorado 8, Lamar 6
Friday, Saturday Games
First round of Playoffs
No. 4 Lamar at No. 1 Trinidad
No. 3 NE Colorado at No. 2 Western Nebraska
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