WNCC baseball season comes to a close with two losses to NJC in regional playoffs

The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team knew they needed to play well against a red-hot Northeastern Junior College to get by the first round of the Region IX playoffs Sunday at Cleveland Field.

In the early going, WNCC hung with NJC only to see the Plainsmen come storming back to capture a doubleheader sweep. The Cougars fell in the opening game 12-6 after watching NJC score eight times in the eighth and ninth inning. NJC closed out the 2-out-of-3 series by dropping the Cougars 9-3 in the second game. NJC advances to play Trinidad State Junior College this weekend in Trinidad, Colo. Trinidad needed three games to dispose of Lamar Community College, winning the if-necessary game 10-4.

“NJC is playing really well,” WNCC coach Mike Jones said. “They are very aggressive at the plate right now. They are playing with a lot of confidence and I wish them the best of luck.”

WNCC, however, hung with the Plainsmen in both games holding a 6-4 lead through seven innings in game one.

“I thought we played a decent ball game in the first game. We pitched really well in the first game and we got a couple really big hits in the first inning and we were able to jump out to a lead early,” Jones said. “We went to the bull pen late in the game and let the game get away from us.

“We also had a chance in the second game, even though we gave up four in the first inning on just one hit. We came out in game two and made some key mistakes on defense and it wasn’t a lack of hustle or lack of focus; it was just one of those things where we ran into each other, through a ball of balance and gave them some runs early. I thought we fought back really well. We had a chance in about the sixth inning to get another run on the board. We just came up a little short.”

WNCC definitely was in striking range of claiming one, or even both games. In the opening game, the Cougars scored four times on four hits to take a 4-0 lead all with two outs. WNCC had four straight singles from Oscar Rodriguez, Shane Wade, Trace Marsden and Brady Sanchez to the early lead.

The Cougars watched NJC slice the lead to 4-3 after five innings. WNCC rebounded, scoring once in the sixth and seventh to lead 6-4. Rodriquez had a solo home run in the sixth inning, while Jared Baros doubled and scored on a Josh Parker single in the seventh.

The Cougars couldn’t hold the lead in the final two innings. NJC scored seven 8^th-inning runs on five hits to take an 11-6 lead. The Plainsmen added another run in the ninth as Scott Dalrymple homered to double up the Cougars.

Matt Klein picked up the win for NJC, throwing a complete game. Klein scattered eight hits, while striking out 15 Cougar batters. Rodil Martinez took the loss, throwing just a 1/3 of an inning in relief of Tim Kupfner. Kupfner threw a strong seven innings, scattering eight hits and striking out one, while throwing 79 pitches.

Rodriquez and Parker each finished the game with two hits. Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a home run, while Parker went 2-for-5 with a run scored, RBI and a double.

NJC jumped on WNCC quickly in game two, scoring four times in the first inning on two hits. The big blow was a double by Rhett Morgan. NJC went up 5-0 threw 4 ½ innings before WNCC made a comeback, slicing the lead to 5-3 in the bottom of half of the fourth.

Anthony Paniagua started things with a one-out single. Alex Arias, Wade and Marsden all followed with singles to cut the deficit to two runs.

In the meantime, starting pitcher Ben Doran settled down after the 4-run first inning, allowing just one run over the next five innings, while allowing just four hits and striking out four. NJC added two insurance runs in the seventh and ninth inning off of Cougar relievers, including a 2-run home run by Dalyrmple.

The Cougars also couldn’t find an answer to NJC pitchers Luke Oeltjenbruns and Trevor Lundgren. Oeltjenbruns threw seven masterful innings, striking out five and allowing nine hits. Then, Lundgren closed out the game, striking out three and allowing just two hits.

Doran suffered the loss on the mound.

WNCC managed 11 hits in the contest, but couldn’t string enough together to get rallies going. Parker finished 2-for-5 with two singles, while Wade went 3-for-4 with a runs scored, a RBI and three singles. Baros also had two hits, going 2-for-4 with two singles.

WNCC finishes the season at 25-29 and made the Region IX playoffs after falling short of the post season a year ago. Jones said they had a very young team on the field Sunday, which bodes well for next year.

“It was an extremely young ball club that was out there,” Jones said. “They got a lot of experience throughout the course of the season. Now they have a Region IX playoff day under their belt. We have a lot of room to grow and having all the experience will only help.”

First Game

NJC 011 010 171 – 12 15 2

WNCC 400 001 100 – 6 8 3

WP – Matt Klein, LP – Rodil Martinez; 2B – WNCC (Jared Baros), NJC (Jonathon Crews, Billy McHenry); HR – WNCC (Oscar Rodriguez), NJC (Scott Dalrymple).

Second Game

NJC 400 100 202 – 9 10 1

WNCC (25-29) 000 300 000 – 3 11 4

WP – Luke Oeljenbruns, LP – Ben Doran; 2B – NJC (Rhett Morgan); HR – NJC (Scott Dalrymple).