The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team still sits in second place in the Empire Conference standings, barely that is, after dropping a doubleheader to Lamar Community College Monday afternoon at Cleveland Field. The Cougars stranded seven runners in the last four innings, including three at third base, as they fell 2-1 in the first game. The second game saw the Cougars limited to just three hits in falling 6-1.
WNCC is just a half a game ahead of Trinidad State Junior College in conference standings for the second seed. Trinidad State and McCook split a doubleheader on Monday with the Trojans winning game one 9-2 and McCook game two 9-1. The top two seeds host first-round playoff games. WNCC has just two conference games left as they host Trinidad State on Friday. Trinidad State has three games left as they face Otero Junior College in a 9-inning game on Wednesday.
“Friday is the key,” WNCC coach Mik
e Jones said. “We have been a very good team at home even though we lost two games today, it doesn’t matter. We are a team that enjoys playing at home at Cleveland Field. We enjoy playing in Scottsbluff. For us to get that home field advantage is very important for us and the whole team feels that way. All we have to do is take care of Trinidad for one game. If we win one of the two, we have all the tie-breakers in our favor to host.”
The one thing that Jones knows for sure is his team needs to hit better than they did in the last three games of the four-game series with Lamar. On Sunday, the Cougars won the opener 9-0 before falling 5-3 in eight innings.
“In the first game I thought we played fairly well. I thought we had plenty of scoring opportunities but we couldn’t come up with that last hit,” Jones said. “JC Morales pitched a real good game and we played good defense. We had our opportunities to win the ball games and that is all you can ask.
Monday’s opening contest was a barnburner. JC Morales started slow, giving up two early runs on three hits. After the second inning, though, Morales settled into a rhythm and shut down the Lopes’ bats, allowing just three hits over the next five innings.
WNCC, in the meantime, was getting to the Lamar pitchers as they made some noise in innings four through seven. Each time, though, the Cougars came up short, stranding seven runners in those four innings.
The only run the Cougars managed to cross the plate was in the sixth. Elvis Garcia led off with a single and later scored on a grounder to third base and snuck home for the run.
WNCC misfired in the other innings, leaving runners in scoring position in the fourth as Garcia and Josh Parker had back-to-back leadoff singles. WNCC even loaded the bases with one out, but Lamar turned a double play to get out of the pickle.
The Cougars managed just three hits in the contest as Garcia was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Parker had the other hit.
Morales took the hard-luck loss on the mound as he scattered six hits while walking five and striking out none.
“He pitched a real good ball game. Even in the first couple of innings, he wasn’t making bad pitches. Lamar got a ball into the wind to deep right field. That is a ball that normally we catch, but it just worked out in Lamar’s favor. You can’t ask anymore out of the guys.”
Lamar’s Shane Dedig controlled the Cougar bats in the second contest. WNCC managed just three hits in the contest, but once again, left five runners on base.
WNCC took an early 1-0 lead after the first as Shane Wade and Garcia each walked. Wade came around to score on a fielder’s choice hit by Camilo Baldelomar for the quick lead.
Lamar turned the game around in the third inning as Eric Dorton delivered a 2-run home run over the right field fence for a 2-1 lead. Lamar added single runs in the third and fourth innings to go up 4-1.
Julio Davila took the loss, going four and a third innings. Davila allowed four hits, four runs and struck out two.
WNCC was led offensively by Trace Marsden, who went 2-for-3 with two singles. The other hit came from Caleb Patton in the seventh inning.
In Sunday’s contests, the Cougar’s Tim Beard struck out nine in tossing a shut-out against Lamar. Beard's sparkling pitching, along with an offensive attack that saw the Cougars score in five of the six innings that they batted in, helped WNCC win the opener 9-0. In the second game, the Cougars fall 5-3 in an extra-inning affair.
In the opener, the storyline was Beard's pitching. The flamethrower from Canbarra, Australia, went all seven innings, scattering three hits and allowing just two free passes on base.
WNCC used Beard's pitching to their advantage on offense as they quickly took a 3-0 lead in the first. Wade started things by reaching base after being plunked by a pitch. Later, Garcia singled to left field. Both runners came around to score as Baldelomar tripled to right field. He later scored on a passed ball for the 1-0 lead.
The Cougars finished the first game with eight hits. Baldelomar led the way with a 3-for-3 game with four RBIs and a run scored. No other Cougar had more than one hit in the game.
The second game was anyone's game. Lamar took a 1-0 lead as Dorton scored on a Tanner Waite single. WNCC quickly answered in the bottom of the first. Wade drew a lead-off of walk. After a sacrifice bunt, Garcia earned a walk. Then, with two outs, Josh Parker had a single to score both runners for a 2-1 lead.
The teams were noted after seven innings before Lamar scored twice in the eighth to forge ahead 5-3.
WNCC will next be in action Wednesday when they travel to Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colo.
Game One
Lamar 110 000 0 – 2 6 1
WNCC 000 001 0 – 1 3 2
WP – Arturo Maitos-Garcia, LP – JC Morales, Save – Brandon Ward-Hersee. 2B – Lamar (Travis Hayes).
Game Two
Lamar (41-10) 002 112 0 – 6 7 0
WNCC (21-32) 100 000 0 – 1 3 2
WP – Shane Dedig, LP – Julio Davila; 2B – Lamar (Max Milot, 3B – Lamar (Eric Dorton), HR – Lamar (Dorton).
Sunday’s Games
Game One
Lamar 000 000 0 -- 0 3 1
WNCC 311 301 x -- 9 8 0
WP -- Tim Beard, LP -- Michael Oberto; 2B -- Nelson Quintero; 3B -- Camilo Baldelomar.
Game Two
Lamar 102 000 02 -- 5 13 1
WNCC 201 000 00 -- 3 5 0
WP -- Brandon Ward-Hersee, LP -- Jacob Stutzman.
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