Baseball falls twice to Lamar

The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team dropped both games of an Empire Conference doubleheader against Lamar Community College on Thursday afternoon at Cleveland Field.

Lamar posted an 11-1 win in the first game and prevailed 13-1 in the second.

In the opener, Lamar’s Austin Moore recorded a no-hitter. Moore struck out 12 and walked three in seven innings of work.

WNCC’s only run was scored by JT Core in the fourth inning.

Challis Wright took the loss on the mound. He allowed just two earned runs on eight hits. He struck out two and walked three.

The Cougars finished the game with four errors.

Lamar pounded out 11 hits. Connor Crane led the way by going 3-for-4 with a home run and two runs batted in.

Lamar’s Nick Halliday shut down the Cougar offense in the second game. Halliday allowed one run on six hits and struck out four in five innings. The Runnin’ Lopes broke the contest open with seven runs in the top of the third.

Crane led Lamar’s 11-hit attack with three more hits.

Alex Michaud went 2-for-2 for WNCC with a pair of doubles. Also finishing with hits for the Cougars were Zach Ostergard, Cameron Snyder, Nick Vanthillo, and David Martinez. Vanthillo had WNCC’s only run batted in. Ozzie Gonzalez scored a run.

Jason Palser took the loss on the mound. He allowed five earned runs on eight hits and struck out one in three innings.

WNCC, now 5-13 on the season, will be back in action Friday when the Cougars host Otero Junior College in a conference doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.

Game One
Lamar 120 310 4 — 11 11 2
WNCC 000 100 0 — 1 0 4
WP — Austin Moore. LP — Challis Wright.
HR — Connor Crane. 2B — Sam Wilson, Roberto Carrasco.

Game Two
Lamar 307 03 — 13 11 0
WNCC 010 00 — 1 6 3
WP — Nick Halliday. LP — Jason Palser.
HR —Nate Ross. 2B — Alex Michaud (2), Josh Day.