The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team got strong pitching from Rocco Harmon and Zane Hendrickx as the Cougars wrapped up the home portion of their schedule with an Empire Conference doubleheader sweep over Northeastern Junior College on a chilly afternoon at Cleveland Field.
The first game saw Harmon go six inning allowing just tw0 runs and striking out four as the Cougars withstood a Plainsmen seventh-inning rally for the 5-4 win.
The second game saw the Cougars' two pitchers Hendrickx and Cam Meyer combine on five hits and just one run in getting he 2-1 win.
WNCC and NJC will wrap up the regular season with a evening game at Sterling, Colorado, on Saturday. WNCC moves to 17-10 in conference and 26-28 overall while NJC moves to 10-17 in conference and 24-27 overall.
WNCC is locked into the fourth seed of the regional tourney that begins next Thursday. WNCC will play at noon in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Cougars will play the fifth seed, which could be NJC or Lamar Community College
The first game was a defensive batter between the two teams. Both teams plated two runs in the first inning. NJC got both of their runs with two outs. WNCC responded in the first by manufacturing two runs. Bryce Peterson led the offense off with a walk followed by a Shintaro Inoue single. Ashton Ross followed with a run scoring single. With two outs Kensei Oikawa earned a bases loaded walk.
WNCC went up 5-2 with single runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings. The third saw WNCC score the run on a bases loaded hit by pitch.
The fourth inning saw Peterson get a single followed by Ross earning a walk to put runners on the corner. Peterson came racing home after Ross was caught in a pickle trying to steal second.
The Cougars plated another run in the fifth when Tyler Easter and Oikawa each singled to put runners on the corner. Once again Oikawa tried to steal second and got in a pickle and Easter slide safely at home on the steal.
NJC came back with two in the seventh and left the tying run stranded at third.
NJC outhit WNCC 9-6. Six different players had a single in the game while Peterson and Inoue each scored twice. Peterson also had three stolen bases.
Harmon got the win scattering seven hits while Gus Allred got the save, allowing two runs and two hits.
The second game saw the Cougars strike first with a run in the second and the WNCC added an insurance run in the fifth.
Asahi Nakano started things in the second with double and came in to score on a Mathieu Levesque groundout for the 1-0 lead. WNCC went up 2-0 with a run in the fourth when Arturo Montiel singles and scored on a Nakano single.
NJC plated one in the fifth, but Hendrickx got out of the pickle with just giving up one run.
The two teams combined on just nine hits. NJC outhit the Cougars 5-4. Nakano led the way with two hits including a double.
Hendrickx went six innings in allowing four hits, one run, and striking out three. Cam Meyer got the save, allowing just one hit.
Game 1
NJC 200 000 2 – 4 9 1
WNCC 201 110 x – 5 6 0
WP – Rocco Harmon; S – Gus Allred.
Game 2
NJC 000 010 0 – 1 5 0
WNCC 010 100 x – 2 4 2
WP – Zane Hendrickx; S – Cam Meyer.
2B – Asahi Nakano.