WNCC baseball splits doubleheader with Miles Community College

Even though the Western Nebraska Community College baseball team pounded out 16 hits Sunday in a doubleheader against Miles Community College Sunday at Cleveland Field, they had to settle for a split in a pair of one-run games.

In the opener, the Cougars left the winning runs in scoring position in the seventh inning in suffering a 6-5 setback. In the nightcap, WNCC came back from a 7-3 deficit to claim a 9-8 win in the bottom of the seventh inning.

WNCC coach Mike Jones said the scraped out the win to get the split.

“Our offense bailed us out once again,” he said. “We didn’t pitch or play defense all that well. Offensively we are a pretty good ball club. We were able to put it together at the end to come out with a win.”

The Cougars definitely had plenty of firepower in the two games, especially in the second game where they 11 hits to get the win in thrilling fashion.

WNCC scored four times in the second inning to take a 4-0 lead. Aurelio Monteagudo started the inning with a solo home run. The Cougars continued their offense going with single by Rudy Soto, Dallas Liptac and Norbert Susini, and a double by David Monteagudo.

Miles City, who qualified for the NJCAA Division II World Series a year ago, came back with seven runs on four hits and two errors to take a 7-4 lead. The big hit was a 2-run triple by Brian Dukert. Also, the Pioneers scored five runs with two outs on two costly errors.

Miles City led 8-6 after four innings before the Cougars bats opened up again. WNCC tied the game in the sixth inning as Soto and Greg Crowe led off by drawing walks. Chris Hook then delivered a pinch-hit single to score one run and the Susini lofted a sacrifice fly to score Crowe with the tying run.

WNCC won the game in the seventh. With one out, Garcia delivered a double to left-centerfield. Aurelio Monteagudo was then intentional walked followed by Soto drawing a bases loaded with one out. Garcia later scored on a wild pitch to win the game.

Kyler Edgehouse picked up the win throwing the final four innings, allowing just one run, three hits and striking out two. Jake Vulk started the game and went three innings.

Susini and Soto paced the Cougars with two hits apiece. Susini went 2-for-3 with two singles, while Soto went 2-for-2 with two walks, a home run, three runs scored and two stolen bases.

Jones was pleased with how his team fought back.

“I am happy how we are playing offensively, we just need to get better with pitching and defense,” he said.
Sloppy defense was the reason the Cougars dropped the opener on the day. Miles City jumped on top 6-0 behind three errors and seven hits in four innings of work.

The Cougar bats started to wake up in the fifth as WNCC put up a four-spot in the fifth inning, scoring all the runs with two outs. The big hits were a run-scoring single by Rich Miller and then a run-scoring double by Luis Capriles to cut the lead to 6-4.

The score stayed that way until the seventh inning. Susini led off the inning with a triple followed by David Monteagudo and Miller loading the bases with no outs. Carlos Garcia then scored Susini with the first run on an infield fly out before the next two batters grounded out.

The first game, we made a lot of errors and didn’t pitch that well and they capitalized on a lot of scoring opportunities,” Jones said. “We tried to make a run late in the game, but we just quite couldn’t get it done.”

Todd Stachura took the loss on the mound, going four innings and giving up six runs on seven hits and striking out two. Jeff Fauss pitched the final three innings allowing three hits and no runs.

Susini led the team at the plate with a 2-for-4 performance, including a triple and run scored. Caprilas and Aurelio Monteagudo each had a double in the loss.

The Cougars, 4-4, will be back in action Tuesday when they travel to McCook Community College for a non-conference doubleheader before heading into Region IX competition next weekend at Lamar Community College and Otero Junior College.

“We open Region IX play Saturday and Sunday against Lamar and Otero, which will be tough match-ups. We have to get some stuff down this week,” Jones said. “We have to clean up our defense. It has been tough because we have been inside a lot and you can make all kind of excuses, but we definitely can play a lot better then how we are playing.”

Game One
Miles City 120 300 0 – 6 10 1
WNCC 000 040 1 – 5 5 3
WP – Kody Kennedy, LP – Stachura; 2B – WNCC 2 (Capriles, A. Monteagudo), Miles (Brian Dukart, Matt Newbold); 3B – WNCC 1 (Susini).

Game Two
Miles (1-3) 007 100 0 – 8 7 1
WNCC (4-4) 042 002 1 – 9 11 3
WP – Edgehouse, LP – Jason Mattila; 2B – WNCC 3 (D. Monteagudo, Garcia, Soto), Miles 1 (Brenton Oruillian); 3B – Miles 1 (Dukart); HR – WNCC 1 (A. Monteagudo).