STERLING, Colo. -- The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team is in a fight to host a first-round playoff game and Tuesday afternoon's 9-inning game with Northeastern Junior College was a key contest in accomplishing that goal.

                The Cougars got strong hitting in registering the 16-12 North Division Empire Conference win over NJC. WNCC won the series against NJC 4-2 and holds the tie-breaker if the two teams should tie in the division.

                WNCC, 20-25) will now need to beat McCook three times this weekend when they face the Indians on the road to host a first-round playoff game next weekend. McCook is 1-2 over WNCC so far this season. The Cougars also need NJC to lose just once to North division leaders Southeast Community College. Southeast took four from WNCC this past weekend.

                WNCC head coach Mike Jones said the NJC win was huge for a chance to host a first-round contest.

                "It was an important win for us to put us in a position this weekend to still compete for a number two seed in the northern division," he said.

                Jones said it is important for the team to carry what they did today into this weekend against McCook.

                "Offensively we will have to keep doing what we did," he said. "We will have to have really good at bats. Patient at bats at times and then aggressive at bats with guys in scoring position. We will have to score a bunch of runs and it will be important to pitch a little better and play good defense with games coming up this weekend."

                And the team played like it was huge with some big offensive numbers.

                "Our offense was really good today," Jones said. "there were multiple guys that had really good days today. Michael Felton had a lot of good at bats. We were just able to get a lot of guys on base and came up with some big hits when we needed them. Jayden Orozco's home run was a big home run. Sergio Tarango's double was a huge double that we needed, and the Dillon Fabricus' home run at the end was a big home run also." 

                WNCC and NJC each scored two runs in the first innings and it was evenly played game through the sixth inning. The first inning saw Michael Felton, Luis Alcantara, and Jordan Rollins all single to load the bases. Joey Olson then belted a double to score two runs.

                NJC tied the game with two in the first, but WNCC retook the lead with four runs in the third. The third saw Matt Womack and Fabricus each earn free passes by being plucked by a pitch. Olson then blasted a 3-run home run for a 5-2 lead. Caleb Coats followed with a single and scored on a Felton single for the 6-2 lead.

                NJC responded by scoring three runs of their own in the third to trail WNCC 6-5. WNCC added a single run in the fourth on an Orozco single that scored Womack for a 7-5 lead.

                The Cougars added to the lead with a 5-run sixth inning. That frame started Olson, Womack, and Fabricus all earning free passes. Tarango made NJC pay with a double that scored two runs. For a 9-5 lead. Fabricus later scored to make it 10-5. Felton followed with a double to make it 11-5 and Coats came in to score on a Alcantara sacrifice fly to make it 12-5.

                NJC added a single run in the bottom of the seventh, but WNCC answered with its own single run in the eighth on a Felton double that scored Orozco for a 13-6 lead.

                NJC added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth to slice the lead to 13-8.

                The ninth inning proved to be the winning inning for the Cougars. WNCC added three big runs that included Rollins leading off with a double followed by a Womack single. Fabricus then delivered a big 3-run home run for the 16-8 lead.

                NJC made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth, scoring four times on four hits. Trevor DuBray, however, got the final out on a strikeout to give the Cougars the win.

                WNCC finished with 15 hits in the contest. Felton led the way with a 4-for-6 day with two doubles, two RBIs and a run scored. Coats, Rollins, and Orozco each had two hits in the game. Orozco had four RBIs and two runs scored with a home run. Rollins had a double. Tarango had a double with two RBIs, and Olson had a double with two RBIs.

                Dawson Hurford picked up the win on the mound, going six innings in allowing eight hits and five runs. Hurford struck out five and didn't walk a batter. Trevor DuBray tossed the final three innings in allowing eight hits and seven runs while striking out three.

WNCC                   204 105 013 – 16 15 3

NJC                        203 000 124 – 12 16 0

WP – Dawson Hurford.

2B – Michael Felton 2, Joey Olson, Jordan Rollins, Sergio Tarango.

HR – Dillon Fabricus, Jayden Orozco.