The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team dropped an Empire Conference doubleheader to No. 18 Trinidad State Junior College on Friday at Cleveland Field.

                Trinidad State scored nine runs in each game and shut down the Cougars bats in registering a 9-2 win in the first game and then 9-4 in the second game.

                Trinidad State moves to 25-5 on the year and 13-1 in the Empire Conference. WNCC drops to 6-20 overall and 4-5 in conference play. WNCC, Otero, and Lamar are all 6 ½ games out of first place while Northeastern Junior College is seven games out.

                WNCC and Trinidad State will hook up for a 9-inning game Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. at Cleveland Field.

                The second game was one of the better games as the Cougars played a little better in some aspect, holding Trinidad to just three hits, all singles. WNCC's offense also came alive, outhitting Trinidad 4-3. The difference in the game was errors with WNCC committing six fielding or throwing errors.

                Trinidad struck first with two runs in the first and three more in the second for a 5-0 lead. WNCC plated one run in the second to cut the lead to 5-1 as Tommy McRill walked with the bases loaded for the first run. WNCC, however, left the bases loaded as the next two Cougar batters struck out.

                The Trojans went up 6-1 with a run in the fifth. WNCC responded with three runs of their own in the fifth to slice the lead to 6-4. The big hit in the sixth was a Brandan Maher double to score a run.

                The Trojans answered the Cougars three runs by plating three in the sixth for a 9-4 lead.

                WNCC was led at the plate by Maher and McRill each with a double and an RBI.

                Claude Bove took the loss on the mound, going five innings in scattering three hits with eight runs while striking out four. Kyle Litzelman finished off the game, going two innings in allowing no hits with a run and a strikeout.

                The first game saw Trinidad explode for 15 hits compared to just four for the Cougars. Mitch Lightbody was the only player with an extra-base hit, collecting a double with an RBI. Maher, Jonathan Bermudez, and Cooper Buchhammer all had singles in the game.

                Trinidad started quick in the opener, plating three in the second and single runs in the fourth and fifth for a 5-0 lead. WNCC scored two in the bottom of the fifth. Buchhammer started off the inning with a walk followed by Braden Lofink working the count with a walk. Lightbody than scored one with a double followed by Cole Williams scoring another run with a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 5-2.

                Trinidad came right back in the sixth with four runs to go up 9-2.

                Alex Oehme took the loss, going five innings in allowing eight hits and five runs while striking out five. Zach Berg tossed the final two innings, allowing seven hits and four runs, while striking out one.

 Game 1

Trinidad                030 114 0 – 9 15 0

WNCC                   000 020 0 – 2 4 3

LP – Alex Oehme

2B – Mitch Lightbody

Game 2

Trinidad (25-5)  230 013 0 – 9 3 3

WNCC (6-20)      010 030 0 – 4 4 6

LP – Claude Bove

2B – Brandan Maher, Tommy McRill