The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team couldn't get the hits when they needed in dropping an Empire Conference doubleheader to Otero Junior College Sunday evening at Cleveland Field.
In the opener, Otero outhit WNCC 10-4 in rolling to the 7-1 win. The second contest saw Claude Bova strike out 11, but it was Otero that had the hot bats, scoring three, first-inning runs for the 6-2 win.
Otero moves to 14-11 in conference play and 17-22 overall. WNCC drops to 6-14 in conference play, tied with McCook. The two teams will wrap up the series on Monday with a 9-inning game beginning at 1 p.m. at Cleveland Field.
The opener was close early on. WNCC had plenty of chances to score runs but stranded seven runners in the first three innings. The Cougars only run of the game came in the second when the Otero pitcher walked in a run.
Otero plated three in the top of the second and then added four insurance runs, plating a single run in the fourth and sixth, and two in the fifth.
WNCC managed just four singles in the contest. Jonathan Bermudez had two hits, while Cole Williams and Tyler Olson each had one.
Alex Oehme suffered the loss on the mound, going four and two-thirds innings. Oehme scattered nine hits allowing six runs and striking out nine. Devin DeBoer finished off the game, going 2 1/3 innings in fiving up a run, a hit, and striking out three.
Otero started the contest with a bang as Devin Mayfield blasted a 2-run home run for the quick 3-0 lead. Otero added a single run in the fourth and two more in the sixth for a 6-0 lead.
WNCC had opportunities to plate runs, but couldn't get a run across the plate under the seventh inning. Olson and Esai Hernandez led off the inning with singles. Cooper Buchhammer plates the first run with a run-scoring single. Hernandez later scored on a passed ball for the Cougars only runs of the game.
Otero finished with eight hits in the contest while WNCC had six. Buchhammer led the offensive attack with two hits, including a RBI. Also getting singles in the contest were Mitch Lightbody, Cole Williams, Olson, and Hernandez.
Claude Bova suffered the loss on the mound. Bova went 5 2/3 innings in scattering seven hits and giving up six runs. Bova struck out 11 in his time on the mound. Nate Kolb finished off the game, going 1 1/3 while giving up one hit and striking out three.
Game 1
Otero 030 121 0 – 7 10 1
WNCC 010 000 0 – 1 4 0
LP – Alex Oehme
Game 2
Otero 300 102 0 – 6 8 2
WNCC 000 000 2 – 2 6 0
LP – Claude Bova