The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team split an Empire Conference doubleheader with Otero Junior College on Friday at Cleveland Field to finish out the four-game series at 3-1.
The first game saw Otero jump out to an 11-0 lead only to watch the Cougars score 10 late runs before Otero earned the 12-10 win.
The second game saw Noah Baumann toss a strong contest in striking out nine in six innings of work in helping the Cougars to the 9-1 win.
The second game saw WNCC score runs in the first five innings. The Cougars put up three runs in the first as Maxime Adam doubled and Jack Jones walked. Then Eli Hernandez delivered a 3-run home run for the 3-0 lead.
WNCC added one in the second on a Jones run-scoring single for the 4-1 lead. The Cougars plated another three in the third as Joe Kinneberg had a run-scoring double followed by Dalton Nelson getting a run-scoring single. WNCC led 7-1 after three.
The Cougars added single runs in the fourth and fifth. The fourth saw Hernandez score Jordan Rollins on a double for the 8-1 lead. In the fifth, it was Jones singling in Ethan Johnson for the 9-1 lead.
WNCC outhit Otero 11-4 in the second game. Jones, Hernandez, and Joseph Toubeaux each had two hits. Hernandez had a double, home run, two runs scored, and four RBIs, while Jones had two RBIs and a run scored.
Baumann got the win in going six innings in facing just 21 batters and throwing 73 pitches. Baumann struck out nine and did not walk a batter in scattering three hits. Caden Eymann tossed the seventh and struck out one and allowed just one hit in just 12 pitches.
The first game saw Otero score six first-inning runs before plating one in the second and three in the third. Otero added a single run in the top of the fourth for the 11-0 lead.
That was when WNCC started to put the offense together, scoring a single run in the bottom of the fourth as Drew Book doubled and scored on a Dillon Fabricus double.
WNCC came back and plated seven in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 11-8. The fifth inning saw WNCC load the bases with one out and Fabricus scored a run by earning a walk. Quinn McCafferty plated another with a single and Sergio Tarango made it 11-4 with a run-scoring single. WNCC added another run as Fabricus scored on a wild pitch and then Jones delivered a 3-run home run to cut the lead to 11-8.
Otero came back with a single run in the sixth only to watch WNCC answer with a run of their own as Eli Hernandez scored on a wild pitch. WNCC held Otero scoreless in the seventh and the Cougars had one last chance to tie the game and force extra innings or get a walk-off hit.
The seventh started when Adam walked followed by a Jones single. Jordan Rollins then lofted the ball that, at first glance, everyone thought was out of the ballpark, but the centerfielder drifted back and got the ball for one out. Adam did score on the next batter on a fielder's choice hit, but that was all the Cougars could muster.
Otero outhit WNCC 13-10. Only three Cougars had multi-hit games. Jones, Book, and Fabricus all had two hits. Jones had three RBIs while Fabricus had two RBIs.
Harold Baez took the loss, but Baez and reliever Thibault Mercadier combined for nine strikeouts on the hill. Mercadier had five strikeouts in scattering four hits and allowing two runs in four innings of work.
WNCC, 3-1 in conference play and 6-8 overall, will be back in action when they head to Arizona for a Spring Break trip. Their first games are against Madison College in Phoenix on March 13.
Game 1
Otero 613 101 0 – 12 13 1
WNCC 000 171 1 – 10 10 0
LP – Harold Baez.
2B – Drew Book, Dillion Fabricus.
HR – Jack Jones.
Game 2
Otero 010 000 0 – 1 4 0
WNCC 313 110 x – 9 11 1
WP – Noah Baumann.
2B – Maxime Adam, Eli Hernandez, Joe Kinneberg.
HR – Eli Hernandez.