The The team fell short of that goal, but still ride into this week’s Region IX tournament in
“Just getting through the first two rounds will be really important,” WNCC head coach Mike Jones said. “In this conference, teams are really close together and everybody matches up well. Everybody has a couple of frontline pitchers and once you get through that, I think we will have a little bit more pitching depth than anybody else in the whole tournament. But, we have to win those first two games."
Sophomore Chris Cuadra will get the start on the mound in the Cougars’ opener, while Phillips Orta will get the nod in game two. Jones has a lot of confidence in his pitchers.
“We believe Chris has been throwing well for us and he has a chance to beat Otero. He throws a lot of strikes and he can keep them off the bases,” he said. “Pitching will be the key for the team to win all this. Pitching depth will be what it comes down to. Everybody has an opportunity to put up some runs. Offensively, it is us, Northeastern and
WNCC features plenty of pitching depth with starters Jeff McDonald, Greg Crowe and Todd Stachura available after the first two games. WNCC also has had strength in the bullpen. The only question mark remains with closer Dan Bauer, who is battling an illness and has been out of practice for the past five days, while taking medication.
The Cougars, 24-26 on the season and 17-13 in conference play, are in a prime position to do something at the regional tournament. WNCC has dominated Otero this season, winning seven of eight games, outscoring the Rattlers 52-26. The only setback came at Cleveland Field when Otero won 7-0.
“We have played well against Otero and been able to score quite a few runs on their pitching staff,” Jones said. “However, they do have one big right-handed pitcher that shut us down. He came into our own ball park, didn’t walk anybody, threw a lot of strikes and threw his breaking ball for strikes. Even though we hit the ball hard and put the ball in play, they made the plays behind him. They beat us that one time. We will hook it up with them once again and we will have to control their offense, keeping them off the bases and make the plays behind our pitcher.”
Offense will be another key for the Cougars, who have been able to manufacture runs by doing the little things like sacrifice bunts, stolen bases and utilizing errors from the other team. Then, Jones said, they get the big hit and not necessarily a home run.
“We have been able to come up with a lot of big hits throughout and that has been a key for us to winning a lot of ball games,” he said. “I expect us to get guys on base, and we have been able to find a way to do that. I expect that to continue, we just need to get those big hits when need to.
“For the most part we have been doing it without the long ball. We have quite a few doubles. We will sacrifice bunt and hit and run the bases, and we will push it when I feel we need to. I am going to just rely on getting on base.”
Sophomores Richie Stewart, Pedro Suarez and JC Perez have provided the biggest clutch hits for the team this season. In Saturday’s regular season finale, Perez paced the Cougars with a 4-for-4 performance, including two home runs, eight RBIs and four runs scored in a 16-6 win against McCook.
The team also claimed a 10-8 win Saturday as Marco Moreno and Travis Lindhorst, who bat in the No. 8 and No. 9 spots, each went 3-for-4.
“This time of the year, the wind blows from the south. It will play long and that really favors us because Otero is not a real powerful lineup,” he said. “They have a few guys that can [hit the long ball], but for us, seven of the nine guys that will be in the lineup will be able to hit the ball out of the ball club.”
More importantly, though, the Cougars are entering the regional tournament on a high note, after snapping a 5-game losing skid at McCook on Saturday. WNCC defeated the Indians 10-8 and 16-6 to get the team back on track.
“The team had some expectations and set some goals that we didn’t reach. There was a time at the end of the season where we had a mental letdown,” Jones said. “I believe that going into the regional tournament, we are going to put all that stuff behind us and come out and play our best.”
Tournament Schedule
Thursday’s Games
11 a.m. – McCook (23-26) vs.
2 p.m. – WNCC (24-26) vs. Otero J.C. (15-29)
5 p.m. – Losers of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. games
Friday’s Games
11 a.m. – Lamar C.C. (31-21) vs. winner Thursday, 11 a.m. game
2 p.m. –
5 p.m. – Losers of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. games
The double elimination tournament continues Saturday and Sunday, with the championship game scheduled for Sunday at noon with an if-necessary game to follow.
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