BEATRICE – It was a defensive contest between the Western Nebraska Community College and Southeast Community College baseball teams for most of their 9-inning Region IX Empire Conference contest Wednesday in Beatrice.
The two teams only plated runs in three of innings with WNCC scoring in two of the innings, but it was Southeast's 7-run, fifth inning that proved the difference as the Storm earned the 7-4 win to move to 21-3 in conference play and 31-10 overall. The loss drops the Cougars to 5-16 in conference and 7-29 overall.
WNCC will be right back in action on Thursday when they travel to Northeastern Junior College for a doubleheader in Sterling, Colorado.
The two starting pitchers were dueling it out through the first four innings. It was the fifth inning when Southeast broke the scoring drought when the Storm plated seven runs on four hits to lead 7-0.
After that one rough inning, the WNCC defense stepped up and held the Storm scoreless.
The Cougars mounted a comeback when they plated three runs in the eighth. It all started when Shintaro Inoue earned a walk. Bryce Peterson followed with a double and then Drew Book walked to load the bases. Jacob Jackson plated the first run as he was walked on four straight pitches. Tyler Easter plated another run as Easter was hit by a pitch to force in another run. With one out, WNCC scored another run as Isaac Smith was walked on four pitches to force in the third run. WNCC, however, left the bases loaded for the third inning of the game to trail 7-3.
WNCC tried a 9th-inning comeback as Peterson doubled and scored on a Jackson double, but that was all the Cougars could muster.
The difference in the game was the Cougars couldn't get the big base hit to score runs. WNCC left the bases loaded, not only in the eighth inning, but also the second and fifth innings. The second inning, after Book walked, Easter and Ethan Johnson singled to the load the bases with just one out, but WNCC couldn't score.
Then, in the fifth, WNCC loaded the bases again. This time with two outs as Roangeraud Fraai started things with a 2-out double. Eli Hernandez then walked and Inoue singled, but that was it.
Both teams finished with 10 hits each. Inoue led the Cougars with three hits while Peterson had two hits, both doubles. Jackson also had two hits with a double and two RBIs.
WNCC got strong pitching performances from their two pitchers. Wyatt Zsidisin started and went 4 1/3 innings, scattering eight hits and allowing seven runs with just three earned runs. He also struck out one. Grant DeClue finished the game, going 3 2/3 innings, allowing two hits, no runs, and striking out two.
WNCC 000 000 031 – 4 10 5
Southeast 000 070 00x – 7 10 0
LP – Wyatt Zsidisin.
2B – Roangeraud Fraai, Jacob Jackson, Bryce Peterson 2.