WNCC splits doubleheader with Northeastern Colorado on Saturday

Carlo Garcia’s grand slam in the top of the ninth inning of game one helped Western Nebraska Community College baseball team earn a split of conference leading Northeastern Junior College Saturday.

The grand slam gave the Cougars a 10-7 win in the opener, before NJC rebounded to take game two 12-3.

Garcia’s slam, though, was huge for the Cougars who trailed by four runs on two different occasions in game one. WNCC finally tied the contest at 6-6 with four runs in the sixth inning, on two-run home runs by Aurelio Monteagudo and Dustin Javins fueled the comeback.

In addition to getting clutch hits late in the games, WNCC also received a stellar performance out of the bullpen by Marco Jimenez. Jimenez, a freshman from Miami, struck out four in four innings, to get the win on the mound.

David Monteagudo and Greg Crowe each had two hits for the Cougars.

In game two, NJC scored eight runs over the course of the first three innings to build a commanding 8-1 lead. WNCC tried another sixth inning comeback, but only could scratch across two runs.

Rudy Soto, Rich Miller and Aurelio Monteagudo all had doubles for the Cougars. WNCC finished the game with six hits.

Jeff Fauss suffered the loss on the mound.

First Game
WNCC 000 024 004 – 10 8 4
NE Colorado 031 020 001 – 7 15 0
WP – Jimenez; 3B – Crowe; HR – A. Monteagudo, Javins, Garcia

Second Game
WNCC 001 002 0 – 3 6 2
NE Colorado 314 013 x – 12 12 2
LP – Fauss; 2b – Soto, Miller, A. Monteagudo.