The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team split an Empire Conference doubleheader with Lamar Community College on Friday at Cleveland Field.

                The Lamar bats exploded for 14 hits in earning a 14-5 win in the opener. The second game saw Jacob Pekol toss a complete game in helping the Cougars register the 7-5 win.

                The win moves the Cougars to 20-18 on the season and more importantly keeps the Cougars 2 ½ games in front of Lamar in conference play with a 15-3 record. Lamar is 13-6 in conference and 30-11 overall.

                Despite the split, WNCC coach Mike Jones thought his team played OK in both games, where they were swinging the bat. It was just a batter that Lamar, in the opener, put the ball in play a little too much.

                "We played really good in game two. We didn't play poorly in game one; they put the ball in play a lot in game one and they found some holes within in our defense," Jones said. "I didn't think we played all that bad in game one. I think offensively we continued to scrape for out at bats and put up some runs. Unfortunately, they found the holes to win game one."

                Game two was a different story as Pekol was masterful on the mound, allowing five runs with just one earned run. Pekol also struck out five for the complete-game win.

                "Pekol threw an outstanding ball game," Jones said. "He really kept them off balance and had them command of three pitches and we played defense behind him."

                The second game saw the Cougars jump out quick on Lamar and led from start to finish by scoring in four of the six innings.

                WNCC opened the first as Stuart Eurich had a lead-off solo home run. The Cougars added two more in the second, fourth and fifth innings. The second inning saw Esai Hernandez get a 2-out single to score Brandon Maher. Eurich followed with a run-scoring single.

                Alex Achtermann had the big hit in the fourth with a runs-scoring double to score Hernandez. The fifth saw Brock Randels deliver a pinch-hit 2-run home run for the Cougars' seven runs.

                WNCC outhit Lamar 9-8 and had two home runs. Eurich and Alex Achtermann each had two hits. Eurich ahd two RBIs and a run scored with his home run, while Achtermann had a double and a RBI. Brock Randels had a home run with two runs scored and two RBIs, while Esai Hernandez had two runs scored with a RBI.

                The first game saw Lamar score four, first-inning runs only to watch WNCC come back to get within two, 7-5 after four innings. After that, the Lopes scored four in the fifth and three more in the sixth to take command of the game.

                WNCC had nine hits in the game, including doubles from Ty Benson and Brandon Bachar, and a home run by Eurich.

                Eurich, Isaac Taylor and Brandon Bacher each had two hits. Eurich had two RBIs and two runs scored, while Taylor had two singles with two RBIs. Bachar had a run scored with a double.

                WNCC will be back in action Saturday when they host Trinidad State Junior College in a conference doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. at Cleveland Field.

                Jones said they just need to be ready to play.

                "We have two more conference games tomorrow [Saturday]," he said. "We come back out here and right now, offensively, we are swinging good bats and showing a lot more power. We hope to continue things rolling tomorrow."

First Game

Lamar                    401 243 0 – 14 14 0

WNCC                   102 200 0 – 5 9 4

LP – Claude Bova; 2B – Brandon Bachar, Ty Benson; HR – Stuart Eurich.

Second Game

Lamar                    001 021 1 – 5 8 1

WNCC                   120 220 x – 7 9 4

WP – Jacob Pekol; 2B – Alex Achtermann; HR – Stuart Eurich, Brock Randels.