Unfortunately the offense was non-existent as the Cougars fell twice to the Plainsmen by identical 2-1 scores.
“We pitched and played defense really well,” WNCC coach Mike Jones said. “We made some great plays behind the pitchers. We had diving plays on the infield, running balls down in the outfield, a lot of hustle and just a lot of great plays on defense. The pitching was solid. We threw a lot of strikes, kept them off balance and made them put the ball in play.
“Unfortunately, offensively, we couldn’t get anything going. NJC’s pitchers shut us down and the few guys that we did get on base; we just could not manufacture a run. It was just a frustrating day offensively.”
WNCC, who dropped three of four to the Plainsmen during the weekend series, had an opportunity to close ground on Empire Conference leading Lamar Community College. Lamar split a four-game series with McCook Community College.
WNCC and Trinidad State are now tied for second at 11-7. Lamar is leading the standings at 17-4. Otero and Northeastern Colorado are sitting at 7-14 with McCook a game behind at 6-13 in conference standings.
Julio Davila took the loss in the second game giving up two third-inning runs. Davila allowed two hits and walked four.
WNCC’s only run of the game came in the fifth as Shane Wade singled and scored on a Elvis Garcia single. Wade and Garcia each had two hits in the contest along with Nelson Quintero.
In the opener, Armani Gonzalez went six innings, but was the hard-luck loser, scattering seven hits and giving up two runs.
NJC took a 2-0 lead after four innings before the Cougars mounted a comeback. Josh Parker singled and scored on a Quintero hit and a Plainsmen error.
The Cougars managed just four hits in the contest.
WNCC, 17-24, will be back in action Tuesday when they face Colby Community College on the road in a doubleheader. They will then face McCook on Wednesday in a 9-inning contest in McCook.
“We have to go back on the road for a conference game and right now McCook is playing great baseball,” Jones said. “They went into Lamar and took two games from them, who is in first place. So, once again it will be another exciting year of Region IX baseball. It will come down to the very last weekend. For us right now, we played so well early, that even though we didn’t play well this weekend, it doesn’t kill us. “
Game One
WNCC 000 010 0 – 1 4 0
NE Colorado 010 100 x – 2 7 1
LP – Armani Gonzalez.
Game Two
WNCC (17-24) 000 010 0 – 1 8 0
NE Colorado (18-23-1) 002 000 x – 2 4 0
LP – Julio Davila.
Empire Conference Standings
Team Conf. Overall
Lamar 17-4 32-8
WNCC 11-7 17-24
Trinidad St. 11-7 25-15
Otero 7-14 16-27
NJC 7-14 18-23-1
McCook 6-13 13-22
No comments:
Post a Comment