Cougar baseball sweeps Otero

WNCC's Marco Moreno slides into home plate during their home game against Colby on Sunday.

Some baseball players take in the Cougar home-opener on Sunday against Colby. The team dropped both games.

Submitted By Jeremy Woznick, Star-Herald Sports Reporter
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The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team snapped a five-game losing skid Tuesday by sweeping a doubleheader from Otero Junior College in Pueblo, Colo. WNCC, now 3-9 on the season, earned a 4-3 win in game one before blowing past the Rattlers 13-0 in game two.

The results didn't count toward either team's regional record as WNCC was scheduled to take on the Air Force Junior Varsity. Despite the opponent change, WNCC coach Mike Jones was pleased with the outcome.

"It definitely was a good day for us," Jones said. "We played much better today. Our pitchers threw a lot of strikes and we played really good defense."

Defensively, the Cougars didn't commit a single error in either game Tuesday.
In game one, WNCC scored a pair of runs in the third inning and added two more in the sixth.

Pedro Suarez's single plated both runs in the third before Marco Moreno drove in a run in the sixth with a triple. Moreno went on to score WNCC's final run.

Chris Hook paced WNCC at the plate in the game by going 2-for-3 with one run scored.
Greg Crowe earned the win on the mound. Crowe scattered four hits and allowed just two runs in five innings of work. He also struck out four. Dan Bauer collected his first save of the season out of the bullpen.

Game two proved to be much more one-sided in the Cougars' favor. After moving out to a 3-0 lead after two innings, WNCC scored four runs in the sixth before piling on six more in the seventh in earning the 13-0 win.

The Cougars finished the game with 14 hits. Suarez was one of four Cougars that had multi-hits in the contest. The sophomore from Miami went 4-for-5 with two doubles and three runs batted in. Stewart and Eneldis Vazquez each finished with three hits and Gilbert Gonzalez added two, including a double. Stewart had two doubles and four runs batted in and Vazquez tallied a double and two runs batted in.

A number of pitchers saw action on the mound for WNCC in the game. Chadron High School graduate Eric Bissonette earned the win. He allowed only one hit in two innings of work.

WNCC's next action is scheduled for Saturday when the Cougars open a key four-game series at Lamar Community College.

Game 1
WNCC 002 002 0 - 4 5 0
Otero 000 021 0 - 3 5 2
WP - Greg Crowe (1-1). 3B - Marco Moreno.

Game 2
WNCC (3-9) 210 004 6 - 13 14 0
Otero 000 000 0 - 0 4 1
WP - Eric Bissonette (1-0). 2B - Pedro Suarez (2), Richie Stewart (2), Gilbert Gonzalez, Eneldis Vazquez.