Beau Lofink registered two saves and the Western Nebraska Community College baseball team captured an Empire Conference doubleheader sweep over Northeastern Junior College Thursday at Cleveland Field.
The opener saw Bradley Brown and Lofink team up for the shutout after Matt Maestas delivered a sixth-inning single to score the only runs of the game for a 2-0 win over the Plainsmen. The second game saw Lofink register his second save on the day as WNCC won 5-4.
The win moves the Cougars to third in the Empire Conference at 9-7 and 15-19 overall. The loss drops the Plainsmen to 6-12 in conference and 13-21 overall.
Lofink, who helped preserve the wins Thursday, said the team received good pitching and strong defensive play on the day.
"We played really well," the former WESTCO player said. "We started to hit the ball there a little bit the second game. We struggled a little bit hitting in the first, but got some big hits in the sixth inning. We just pitched really well today and shut them down."
A big key was the pitching. In the first game, Bradley Brown went six strong innings, striking out seven and scattering four hits. Lofink tossed a strong seventh to record his seventh save of the season.
The second game saw Brian Kelley toss five innings of four-hit ball before Montana Giesbrecht tossed a strong sixth and Lofink nailing down the game with a strong seventh.
"The pitching was really big," Lofink said. "We need to keep pitching with consistency so that we can get wins like this, especially big wins like this that we need."
While the pitching was doing its job, the offense did enough to get the two wins. Lofink said this team never stops fighting.
"We are scrappy and we don't get down very much," Lofink said. "We just hang in the games and that is all you can ask."
In the opener, WNCC's only scoring came in the sixth as Matt Maestas delivered a bases loaded single to score two runs for the 2-0 lead.
WNCC managed just four hits in the contest compared to five hits for NJC. Ryan Grasser and Jack Pauley each had doubles. It was Grasser's lead-off sixth-inning double that got the juices flowing for the Cougars.
After Grasser's double, Oscar Perez walked and Alex Achtermann singled to load the bases with no outs. Two outs later, Maestas singled for the go-ahead runs.
The second game saw the Cougars start the scoring early, scoring once in the first and two runs each in the third and fourth for a 5-0 lead.
WNCC managed eight hits in the contest, getting two each from Perez, Austin Michaud, and Aaron Morrison. Michaud had the only extra base hit with a double. Michaud also had two RBIs and a run scored.
WNCC scored one in the first on a Jack Pauley run-scoring single. WNCC's two-run third was highlighted by a run-scoring double by Michaud, while Michaud had a run-scoring single in the fourth for the 5-0 lead.
NJC added three in the fifth on three hits. Kelley stopped the scoring with runners on third and second as he got the final two outs on a line out to Brandon Bachar at second and then a strike out swinging.
Giesbrecht and Lofink then tossed strong innings to close out the game for the win.
WNCC will be back in action on Sunday when they host Colby Community College in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
"Colby is a good team. We just have to get ready to play," Lofink said. "It will be nice to have a few games off from conference just to get some innings from some guys. These are still big games for us this weekend."
First Game
NJC 000 000 0 – 0 5 0
WNCC 000 002 x – 2 4 0
WP – Bradley Brown, S – Beau Lofink; 2B – Ryan Grasser, Jack Pauley.
Second Game
NJC 000 030 1 – 4 6 1
WNCC 102 200 x – 5 8 3
WP – Brian Kelley, S – Beau Lofink; 2B – Austin Michaud.