The
Western Nebraska Community College baseball team entered Sunday's Empire
Conference game with Otero Junior College on Sunday with a 17-game losing skid.
The losing streak became distant memory after the Cougars put together two
complete games to finish the regular season in thundering fashion by sweeping
the Rattlers at Cleveland Field.
The
Cougars received two strong pitching performances by sophomores Jeff Schmitt
and Terry McNabb in picking up the doubleheader wins. More importantly, the
Cougars had timely hits. In the opener, the Cougars scored three first-inning
runs in rolling to the 4-1 win. WNCC then jumped out to an 8-0 in the second
game lead and never looked back in posting the 8-3 win.
"It
was a totally different team playing out there today," WNCC coach Mike
Jones said. "Our energy level was really good and our fundamentals were
outstanding. We had so many guys execute fundamental plays that we have been
working on all season long and we haven't been able to execute them. Today,
everything was executed extremely well. It is unfortunate that our season has
to end after starting to play better baseball all of a sudden.
Jones
said if the team would have played like this during the season, who knows how
many wins they would have.
"If
we would have played like this, there is no telling how many wins we would have
rolled off instead of losses," he said. "I don't know exactly what
caused a switch amongst our team, but it was nice to see them play well
today."
Jones
said Schmitt and McNabb threw well but it was the defense that made plays
behind the two sophomore pitchers that sparkled. WNCC also came up big with
timely hits, another key ingredient in the doubleheader win.
"We
had great pitching performances from the two sophomores that went out there and
pitched with a lot of heart and competed extremely hard," he said.
"The guys played really well behind them. We played really good defense in
the outfield and the infield. It was definitely a team effort and it was nice
to see our guys back up such good pitching performances on the mount."
WNCC
used clutch hits and aggressive base running to jump out to the 3-0 lead after
the first inning. Trevor Kriesel started things by getting walked followed by a
Max Brennen getting a single. Kriesel later scored for the 1-0 lead.
Nick
Vanthillo then walked and both Brennen and Vanthillo came home on a Zach
Ostergard single for the 3-0 lead.
Otero
came back with a single run in the second, but the Cougars immediately answered
with a run in the bottom of the frame Ernesto Punales reached on an error and
came around to score on an error by the catcher for the 4-1 lead.
That
is all they would need as Schmitt and the defense stayed strong in getting out
of a bases loaded situation in the third.
WNCC
managed just five hits in the contest, but they scored runs when they needed
to. Ostergard and Brennen each had two hits in the contest. Ostergard also
chipped in two RBIs. The other hits came from sophomore Vore.
Schmitt
tossed a gem, going all seven innings while scattering seven hits and allowing
just one run. The sophomore from Cheyenne, Wyo., struck out five in the win.
The
second game was even more exciting to watch as the Cougars' defense came up
with some big play and the Cougar offense came up with clutch hits. WNCC struck
first with four runs in the third inning.
The
third inning proved to be the key inning and it started with the Cougar's
defense in the top of the frame. Otero had a prime scoring opportunity
thwarted. The Rattlers; Blake Stoehr singled to left field and Matt Chavarria
rounded third to score. Tre Meier, an Alliance native, used his cannon arm and
threw a bullet to catcher Pablo Garcia for the third out.
That
defensive play spearheaded the Cougars' offense, scoring four times on five
hits. Punales started the inning with a double. Kriesel followed with a single
before Brennen knocked in the first run with a double to rightfield. Meier also
recorded a run-scoring single to score Brennen for the 4-0 lead.
WNCC
added another three runs in the fifth on one hit, a triple by Garcia to score
Vore and Ostergard for the 7-0 lead. The Cougars' final run came in the sixth
as Vore had a 2-out single to score Punales.
WNCC
out-hit the Rattlers 9-7. Kriesel, Vore, Punales and Pablo Garcia each had two
hits in the contest. Garcia and Vore finished with two RBIs. The Cougars also
had three extra base hits, getting doubles from Brennen and Punales and a
triple from Garcia.
McNabb
stayed strong in getting the pitching win. The right-handed flame thrower from
Canada went seven innings in scattering seven hits and giving up three runs.
McNabb walked just two.
WNCC
finishes the season at 13-34. The two teams were slated to play a doubleheader
on Monday, but that was cancelled after Northeastern Junior College beat
Trinidad State on Sunday, giving Otero the No. 3 seed in the Region IX
playoffs.
The
first-round of the playoffs begin this weekend as No. 1 Lamar Community College
faces No. 4 Trinidad State while No. 2 Northeastern Colorado takes on No. 3
Otero.
Jones
said they have to replace some key sophomores that will be leaving, but there
is plenty of talent for next year.
"We
will lose plenty of talented guys from our pitching staff and some starting
position players that have been really important to us offensively," he
said. "We have our work cut out to replace those guys, but as a staff we
are going to work extremely hard to bring in not only talented players but good
students and good character kids."
First Game
Otero JC 010
000 0 -- 1 7 2
WNCC 310
000 x -- 4 5 2
WP -- Jeff Schmitt; 2B -- Max Brennen.
Second Game
Otero JC 000
000 3 -- 3 7 2
WNCC (13-34) 004
021 x -- 8 9 2
WP -- Terry McNabb; 2B -- Brennen, Ernesto Punales; 3B --
Pablo Garcia.
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