WNCC baseball drops doubleheader to NJC

               STERLING, Colo. -- The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team dropped two Empire Conference contests to league-leading Northeastern Junior College on Friday, falling 5-0 and 4-1.

               The Cougars have now dropped eight straight contests. Still, the Cougars are still sitting in fourth place in the conference race. The top four teams qualify for the Region IX playoffs. WNCC will be back in action on Saturday for two more games with Northeastern in Sterling.

               WNCC received a strong pitching performance from Jeff Schmitt in the opening game. The sophomore from Cheyenne, Wyo., went six innings in allowing eight hits and five runs. The right-hander had control of his pitches, tossing just 75 pitches, 51 for strikes as he struck out two and only walked five.

               The Cougars couldn't muster much offensively as the team managed just four hits in the contest. Max Brennen, Jake Vore, Josh Bride and Ernesto Punales each had singles in the contest.

               Jake Vore recorded the Cougars first hit in the fourth inning, breaking up a no-hitter by NJC's Derek Neeper. WNCC's best chance to score came in the sixth as Bride, Punales and Brennen loaded the bases with singles with one out, but the Cougars couldn't get the clutch hit to get the runs home.

               The second game saw WNCC receive a strong pitching performance from Terry McNabb. The sophomore from Saskatchewan, Canada, went six strong innings, allowing five hits, four runs and striking out three.

               Both Squads finished with five hits apiece. Nick Vanthillo, from Belgium, led the team with a 2-for-3 performance. Brennen had the only extra base hit with a double.

               NJC took an early 2-0 lead with two runs in the first and then pushed the lead to 4-0 after four innings. WNCC finally cracked the scoring column with a single run in the sixth. Brennen started things with a one-out double and scored on a two-out single by Vanthillo.

              

Game One

WNCC                  000 000 0 -- 0 4 0

NJC                       003 200 x -- 5 8 0

LP -- Jeff Schmitt.

Game Two

 WNCC (11-25)                  000 001 0 -- 1 5 4

NJC (29-13)                        200 200 x -- 4 5 0

LP -- Terry McNabb; 2B -- Max Brennen.