Saturday, February 13, 2010

WNCC baseball drops two to Garden City on Saturday

PUEBLO, Colo. -- The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team found the going tough against Garden City Community College Saturday in Pueblo, Colo.

The Cougars walked 12 batters in game one falling 14-6 to the Broncbusters. The Cougars then held a late lead in game two, before giving up four runs and falling 5-2.

"Today's games boiled down to starting pitchers. Rodil Martinez had a really bad outing where he had trouble throwing strikes and put us in a bad position in the first inning of game one," WNCC coach Mike Jones said. "We were able to come back offensively in the first game and got some runs and got the game close. The bullpen just couldn't hold on and let it slip away late.

"The second game was much different. Julio Davila, even though he walked too many guys, he still did a good job. We were winning the ball game when he came out, unfortunately again, we went to the bullpen and it slipped away from us. All in all, game one was a struggle with a fight from the beginning, and game two was a much better time."

WNCC got behind the eight ball early as starting pitcher Rodil Martinez lasted just a third of an inning as he walked four and gave up-four earned runs as Garden City held a 6-0 lead. WNCC bounced back scoring two runs each in the third, fourth and fifth inning to slice the lead to 9-6, but Garden City plated five runs in the sixth inning to seal the game.

Martinez took the loss on the mound. John Bravard threw 2 2/3 innings in relieve of Martinez. The freshman from Lyons, Colo., gave up four runs on five hits, while striking out one. Sidney Jones finished the game, going three innings and giving up six runs and three hits. Sidney Jones walked six and struck out two.

Offensively, Oscar Rodriquez led the way with a 3-for-4 performance with two RBIs. Elvis Garcia finished the game with two hits, including a double. Shane Wade also contributed a double and two RBIs.

The second game was a much better performance for the Cougars. Garden City quickly took a 1-0 lead before WNCC bounced back with two runs in the fourth inning for a 2-1 lead. The Broncbusters scored a single run in the fifth and three more in the sixth for the win.

Julio Davila started the game as he went four inning, allowing just one run. Davila walked six, struck out three and allowed three hits. Carlos Luzon took the loss, throwing 1 1/3 innings. Luzon, a freshman from Venezuela, allowed three runs on one hit. He also walked four.

Guernsey-Sunrise's David Castle threw two-thirds of an inning, allowing two hits and a run. Castle entered the game with the bases loaded.

WNCC managed just three hits in game two. Josh Parker ahd the big hit for the Cougars as he belted a double. The other two hits came from JC Morales and Rodriquez.

Jones said these games are learning contests for his squad.

"The first game we made a lot of mistakes. We didn't pitch well. We didn't play very good defense. We were behind the pitchers. We made some base running mistakes. We really made a lot of mistakes in game one," he said. "That is fine because we are going to learn from those mistakes and continue to work on those stuff. It is better to make the mistakes know then later in the season. We are OK with that.

"in the second ball game it was a much cleaner ball game. We played really good defense. We are going to see a lot of progress coming up next week when we get a chance to play again."

WNCC will return to action this weekend when they face Barton Community College and Pratt Community College on the road in Kansas next weekend.

Game One
WNCC 002 220 0 -- 6 9 3
Garden City 600 305 0 -- 14 9 2
LP -- R. Martinez; 2B -- Garcia, Wade.

Game Two
WNCC (0-4) 000 200 0 -- 2 3 0
Garden City 100 013 x -- 5 6 3
LP -- Luzon; 2B -- Parker

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