STERLING, Colo. -- The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team scored five times in the final two innings to register a come-from-behind 5-4 win against Northeastern Junior College Monday afternoon in Sterling, Colo.
The win pushes the Cougars Empire Conference record to 12-7 and 21-20 overall. The Cougars are currently in second place in the conference race behind Trinidad State’s 16-4 record and just two games ahead of Lamar Community College, who is at 11-9.
WNCC’s win Monday saw the Cougars facing a 4-0 deficit through seven innings. WNCC coach Mike Jones said the way his team won the game was outstanding.
“This turns out to be a really big win in the manner that we won the ball game. Being shut out through seven innings and then coming out in the eighth to string together some hits. We got a real big hit out of Josh Parker to drive in three runs. That was outstanding. Once we got momentum going, we really got confident and we were able to stop them. Victor Rubio comes into the game and shuts them down to give us an opportunity to win.”
It was the eighth inning where the Cougars scored four times on five hits to tie the game. Oscar Rodriquez started the comeback with a single followed by singles by Vince Rouse and Jared Baros to load the bases. Parker then came through with a triple that plated three runs.
Then, with no outs, Josh Sloan singled up the middle to score Parker with the tying run.
WNCC took the lead in the ninth inning on just one hit. With one out, Rouse singled, stole second and was awarded third base on a balk call. With two outs, Parker hit a hot shot and reached first on a throwing error, scoring Rouse from third for the go ahead run.
Jones was elated to see his team come back from a 4-0 deficit for the win, something this team has done all year in coming back from deficits.
"It has really grown amongst the team in the regard that we don’t panic,” he said. “Just because we are not hitting early, nobody is losing focus, nobody is losing confidence. We understand we are a good offensive team. Maybe we need to see the pitcher one or two at bats before we will really get to them. As long as we continue to pitch and play defense and let our offense settle in we will be O.K.”
The Cougars, however, were in trouble early, letting the Plainsmen score two times in the first inning on just one hit. NJC went up 4-0 as they scored twice in the sixth inning on three hits, including a solo home run by Cory Miller.
Victor Rubio then came in and shut down the Plainsmen bats to pick up the win in relief of Rodil Martinez. Rubio went 3 1/3 innings, allowing two hits and striking out three. Martinez also pitched well, allowing five hits and giving up three runs.
Jones was pleased with his two pitchers, after a big first-inning error gave the Plainsmen a 2-0 lead.
“Rodil pitched a good ball game, too,” he said. “We made one big, big mistake in the first inning and gave up two runs with that error. But Rodil didn’t lose focus. He kept his composure and was able to pitch six strong innings”
Offensively for the Cougars, Anthony Paniagua and Rouse each went 2-for-4. Rouse had two singles, while Paniagua had two early singles. Parker finished the game 1-for-5 with a triple and three RBIs, while Baros was 1-for-4 with a runs scored.
WNCC will next be in action Wednesday when they host McCook Community College in a conference game beginning at 2 p.m. at Cleveland Field in one 9-inning game.
“We are still in the No. 2 spot with a lot of big ball games left,” Jones said. “We can’t lose focus right now with McCook coming in on Wednesday and then we have a huge four games with Lamar on the weekend on the road. It should get interesting.”
WNCC (21-20) 000 000 041 – 5 11 1
NJC (15-23) 200 002 000 – 4 9 1
WP – Rubio, LP – Justin Huggins; 2B – NJC (Mike Goldy); 3B – WNCC (Parker), NJC (Scott Dalrymple); HR – NJC (Cory Miller).
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