Photos of the Tournament are in the blog below this story
By JEREMY WOZNICK, Scottsbluff Star-Herald Sports Reporter
with contribution by MARK REIN for the second and third games
The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team had its magical season come to an end Thursday in the opening day of the NJCAA Western District Baseball Tournament at Cleveland Field in Scottsbluff.
Fresh off their first regional championship in school history on Sunday, and making their first appearance in the district round, the Cougars dropped both games of the tournament. In the opener, WNCC struggled to get anything going against Central Arizona College starter Josh Spence in dropping an 8-4 setback.
Spence struck out 10 and kept the Cougar hitters off-balance throughout.
In the nightcap, the Cougars dropped an 11-8 decision to Western Nevada Community College.
Western Nevada earned a 5-4 win in Thursday’s other game.
The Wildcats will take on Central Arizona today at 7 p.m. A Western Nevada win would advance the Wildcats into the JUCO World Series, while a win by Central Arizona would set up another meeting between the teams on Saturday at 1 p.m.
WNCC finishes its season with a record of 29-29.
“This team has gone farther than any team I’ve coached,” Western Nebraska baseball coach Mike Jones said. “They’re a special group because of their attitude and their approach to the game. They want to win and they’ve earned every step of it. Nobody gave it to them. It was not easy for them and they earned it.”
In the opener, Central Arizona broke on top against WNCC starter Phillips Orta in the top of the second inning by plating four runs. The big blow was a three-run double by Cade Thompson with two outs.
The Vaqueros increased their lead to 5-0 in the top of the third on a solo home run by Tony Pechek. A ringing single by Christian Johnson on the very next pitch prompted a WNCC pitching change. Eneldis Vazquez replaced Orta on the mound and pitched out of any further trouble.
WNCC managed to get on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth when Marco Moreno deposited a Spence fastball over the leftfield fence to make it 5-1. Travis Lindhorst followed with a double down the leftfield line and managed to score a few pitches later on a wild pitch. However, that would be all the Cougars would get in the inning as Spence collected a crucial strikeout to get out of the jam.
Upon entering the game in the third, Vazquez kept the Central Arizona bats in check until the sixth inning when the Vaqueros got three important insurance runs on run-scoring hits by Pechek, J.T. Putt and Jesus Arzaga.
Trailing 8-2 in the ninth, WNCC managed to make things interesting when Daniel Martinez’s single scored both Moreno and Abraham Cervantes to make the score 8-4. But that would be all the Cougars would get as Spence struck out the side to end the game.
In his complete-game win, Spence finished the game throwing 138 pitches. It was his 16th complete game in 16 starts this season.
Johnson paced the Vaquero offense with four hits, while Pechak and Evan Raley added two each.
Moreno led WNCC offensively with three hits, two runs scored and a run batted in. Martinez added two hits and two runs batted in.
Orta struck out four in two innings of work on the mound for WNCC. In relief of Orta, Vazquez scattered seven hits and struck out four in the final eight innings.
In the second game, the Cougars found themselves down 11-2 after six innings before rallying to make things interesting. The Cougars scored five runs in the seventh on just two hits, including a three-run double by Martinez.
The Cougars plated another run in the eighth to make the score 11-8 when JC Perez singled and scored on an error. That would be as close as Western Nebraska would get as Western Nevada’s Daniel Grubbs shut the door.
“They jumped out to a lead early and kept putting it on us,” Jones said. “We could have easily folded and given up on our season, but this group’s been fighting all season long and they went down swinging until the final out.”
Despite the season-ending loss, Jones credited his ball club for such a great finish to the year.
“We’ve gone through a lot the last two weeks,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of tough ball games, a lot of digging down deep and some of our guys got hurt here down the stretch. Of course, that’s part of the game and that’s what you have to do.
“We got beat by some good teams. They earned their right to be here and they showed why they are here. We faced some really good pitching today and I wish both these teams the best of luck.”
Western Nevada pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts in the game. Justin Garcia registered the win on the mound, while Grubbs recorded the save.
For the Cougars, Cervantes was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored.
For Western Nevada, Clifford Shepard and Logan Parsley each had home runs. Chuck Howard finished with a triple.
Western Nevada Community College plated a pair of eighth-inning runs to rally past Central Arizona College 5-4 in the second game of Thursday’s NJCAA Western District Baseball Tournament.
Clifford Shepard’s triple scored Kyle Bondurant to tie the game at 4-4 before Shepard scored on a sacrifice fly by Thomas Miller with the game winner.
Daniel Grubbs picked up the win on the mound for Western Nevada out of the bullpen.
Andrew Reid paced the Wildcats offensively with three singles. Bondurant added a pair of hits, including a solo home run in the third inning.
For Central Arizona, Drew Tooley and Tony Pechek each had two hits. Pechek finished with a single and a solo home run in the fifth inning.
Central Arizona 041 003 000 — 8 13 1
Western Nebraska 000 020 002 — 4 9 2
WP — Josh Spence; LP — Phillips Orta. HR — Marco Moreno (WNCC), Tony Pechek (CAC); 2B — Travis Lindhorst (WNCC), Drew Tooley, Cade Thompson, Ryan Pilgrim (CAC).
Game 2
Western Nevada 01 011 020 — 5 8 3
Central Arizona 111 010 000 — 4 6 4
WP — Daniel Grubbs; LP — Austin Davis. HR — Kyle Bondurant (WN), Tony Pechek (CAC); 3B — Clifford Shepard (WN); 2B — Cade Thompson (CAC).
Game 3
Western Nebraska (29-29) 110 000 510 — 8 8 2
Western Nevada (38-22-2) 102 341 00x — 11 13 1
WP — Justin Garcia, LP — Chris Cuadra; 2B — W. Neb. (Martinez, Cervantez 2), W. Nev, (Andrew Ferguson); 3B — W. Nev. (Howard); HR — W. Nev. (Shepard, Parsley).
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