WNCC baseball downs South Mountain 13-11

WNCC baseball downs South Mountain 13-11

                PHOENIX -- The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team slugged its way to a 13-11 win over South Mountain Community College during the second game of a six-game spring break road trip Wednesday afternoon in Phoenix.

The Cougars, who lost 16-6 to South Mountain on Tuesday, rebounded with a 20-hit performance Wednesday. Ryan Grasser led the way at the plate by going 4-for-4 with a home run, a double and three runs scored.

Grasser was one of three Cougars to homer in the contest. Austin Michaud and Garret Smith also finished with a round tripper.

WNCC took a 9-4 lead through three innings, scoring three times in the second and six runs in the third. The second inning saw WNCC pound out five hits, including doubles by Grasser and Jonathan Bermudez.

The third saw Austin Michaud rip a 2-run home run to start the frame. Garret Smith followed a few batters later with a 2-run dinger over the leftfield fence. Stuart Eurich finished the scoring with a 2-4un triple.

South Mountain rebounded, scoring seven runs in the fourth to take an 11-9 lead. The Cougars rallied to tie the game at 11-11 with single runs in the fifth and sixth. Grasser homered in the fifth to cut the deficit to one before Bermudez tripled home Michaud to tie the game.

WNCC went ahead with a pair of runs in the ninth on run-scoring singles by Michaud and Jack Pauley to capture the win.

Smith and Matt Maestas both finished with three hits each for WNCC. Michaud and Smith led the way with three runs batted in each. Eurich tripled and drove in two runs. Jonathan Bermudez also had a triple in the game. In addition to Grasser, finishing with doubles for the Cougars were Bermudez and Brandon Bachar.

Montana Giesbrecht earned the win on the mound in relief. He pitched two scoreless innings. Beau Lofink pitched a scoreless and hitless ninth inning to get the save. Lofink struck out one.

WNCC, which improved to 7-13 on the season, will be back in action Thursday at 3 p.m. against GateWay Community College.

WNCC (7-13)                      036 011 002 — 13 20 5
South Mountain               202 700 000 — 11 10 0
WP — Montana Giesbrecht. S — Beau Lofink.
HR — Austin Michaud, Garret Smith, Ryan Grasser. 3B — Stuart Eurich, Jonathan Bermudez. 2B — Brandon Bachar, Grasser, Bermudez.