More photos of the McCook game on Monday located at wncccougars.smugmug.comThe Western Nebraska Community College baseball team continues sailing along after taking three of four from McCook Community College and six of their last seven games.
WNCC’s recent surge of momentum continued Sunday and Monday when McCook invaded Cleveland Field. The Cougars swept a doubleheader from the Indians 5-0 and 11-4 on Sunday, and then than won the first game of a double-dip on Monday behind a 14-hit offensive attack that resulted in a 10-5 win.
The Cougars, however, couldn’t expand on their six-game winning streak in the second game as McCook’s JJ Jaramillo tossed a 2-hit 6-0 shutout to help McCook salvage one game of the four game series.
WNCC will have one day to regroup from its misfortunes on Monday as they host Northeastern Junior College in a 9-inning game on Wednesday at Cleveland Field.
Still, Cougar head coach Mike Jones saw plenty of positives from Monday’s game, even though the Cougars couldn’t find the grass for a base hit in the second game.
“We won the first game and we really controlled game one. We got the lead early and cruised through the game,” he said. “Unfortunately, we fell in the second game. Still, we had some good at bats. We hit the ball hard but McCook made all the plays. We had plenty of good at bats in that game; plenty of nice, solid contact and line drives. But their outfielders went and caught all of them or we hit it right at them. That is just part of the game.”
The first game, however, the Cougars came ready to play Armani Gonzalez picked up the win by throwing six strong innings, allowing just two runs and five hits. Gonzalez struck out two.
“Armani pitched a good game,” Jones said. “He had a shaky second inning after we had a long first inning at the plate. He came out was shaky in the second inning, but he got through that and threw real good.”
Gonzalez can credit his team’s offense for the first-game win as the Cougars scored five first-inning runs on four hits. Shane Wade started the game with a double up the middle. After Jason Sloan walked, Elvis Garcia ripped a run-scoring single followed by a two-run double by Camilo Baldelomar to push the score to 3-0.
Nelson Quintero then reached on an error that scored Balelomar. Jared Baros’ single to right field scored the Cougar’s fifth run for the 5-0 lead.
WNCC plated single runs in the second and third innings for a 7-1 lead before exploding for three more runs in the fifth. Baros and Trace Marsden started the inning with singles followed by Sanford reaching on a fielder’s choice. Wade then uncorked a double that scored two runs followed by a run-scoring single by Sloan for the 10-2 lead.
Wade paced the Cougars with a 4-for-5 game with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored. Sloan also had two hits and two RBIs, as did Baldelomar. Baros finished the game going 3-for-4 with a double, RBI and a run scored, while Scottsbluff’s Marsden was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
“We came out and hit the ball really well in the first game,” Jones said. “From the very first inning on we hit the ball extremely well and found plenty of the holes. We hit plenty of doubles to the gaps. Unfortunately in the second game it was just right at them.”
WNCC couldn’t carry that offensive momentum over to the second game as McCook scored once in the first inning and then five times in the fourth for the win.
The Cougar’s only hits came from Josh Parker’s double in the second inning, and a single by Wade in the third inning. After that, McCook’s Jaramillo faced just 24 batters in seven innings while striking out three and delivering two free passes.
Julio Davila took the loss on the mound despite throwing strong. The sophomore from Puerto Rico struck out seven and walked five in his 4 1/3 innings. He also sat down seven straight McCook batters at one stretch.
The loss on Monday was after some strong play on Sunday by the Cougars. In the first game, Tim Beard threw six strong innings in giving the Cougars the win. Jones said that was the best his team played all year.
“We came out and hit the ball really well,” Jones said about Sunday’s first game. “From the very first inning on we hit the ball extremely well and found plenty of the holes. We hit plenty of doubles to the gaps. Unfortunately in the second game it was just right at them. The second game we didn’t play very well. Still, we were able to keep our heads up and get through a couple bad innings that we had defensively. We then came up with some big runs late.”
McCook took a 4-3 lead before the Cougars scored five times in the fifth inning on just two hits. Garcia had a single that scored Wade, while Baldelomar singled home Garcia to help the Cougars take an 8-4 lead. The Cougars added three more runs in the sixth inning on just two hits. Josh Parker and Jared Baros had the only singles in the inning, while the others earned their way on base via walks and hits batsman.
The Cougars ripped off nine hits in the second game. Baldelomar went 2-for-4, while Baros went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs.
Jones said his team just needs to put this game behind them because they have another tough game coming up on Wednesday.
“There is no time for this one loss to eat us up or anything,” he said. “We are playing good baseball and we have to play NJC on Wednesday so there is not a lot of rest or break. We have to get right back after it again.”
Sunday’s Games
McCook 000 000 0 -- 0 3 2
WNCC 102 002 x -- 5 5 0
WP -- TIm Beard, 2B -- Kevin Sanford, Camilo Baldelomar.
McCook 210 100 0 -- 4 5 2
WNCC 030 053 x -- 11 9 1
WP -- JC Morales; 2B -- Jason Sloan; 3B -- Kevin Sanford.
Monday’s Games
McCook 010 001 3 – 5 10 1
WNCC 511 030 x – 10 14 2
WP – Armani Gonzalez; 2B – Shane Wade 2, Baldelomar,Josh Parker, Jared Baros.
McCook (6-17) 100 050 0 – 6 7 0
WNCC (12-19) 000 000 0 – 0 2 2
LP – Julio Davila; 2B -- Parker
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