The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team will begin their 23rd season when they open this weekend against New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico, as the team hopes to duplicate the feat of the 2022 team when they won the Region IX tournament.
WNCC head coach Mike Jones said the team is excited to get the season started as there is plenty of positive energy on the team this season.
"Opening weekend is always exciting," Jones said. "You are not going to be 100 percent ready to go this early in the season. We have energy and we are ready to go to play; I don't know if we are 100 percent ready.
The team should be in better shape this year compared to last year where the team seldom got to get outdoors during January and February because of the snowy weather. This season, the team has seen plenty of action outside in preparing for the season opening weekend.
"We have had beautiful weather. The weather has been great," Jones said. "Having the new service put down on Cleveland Field is absolutely amazing, so thank you to everybody in the community and the city and the Legion baseball program to get that done. We are way ahead of where we have been in the past."
Come Saturday and Sunday, when they head down to New Mexico, they fill face a Broncs team that is 6-1 on the season after taking four from Region IX foe Luna Community College over the weekend.
All Jones knows about New Mexico Military is they lost some offensive power from a year ago's team, and he doesn't know how they reloaded.
"They lost a whole bunch from their offensive lineup a year ago. They were very much offensive skilled," Jones said. "I don't know what pieces they added and who will be in their lineup. They are a well-coached team. They are very well organized and very disciplined. They play the game the right way and are a good host for us. It is a nice place to play and a beautiful field. They are a very good opponent."
While Jones doesn't know a lot about New Mexico Military, he does know that his team has a lot of talent with plenty of returners from a year ago.
"There is so many guys returning; guys that had tons of at bats a year ago as freshman. So, we have a ton of experience returning in our lineup and our pitching staff. Talent is one thing and experience is another," Jones said. "I am really excited with all the experience that we have."
WNCC returns eight position players with several seeing a lot of at bats. WNCC also returns five pitchers. Jones is excited to see the make-up of the returners with the newcomers this season.
The list of returners includes all-region and freshman-of-the-year shortstop Shintaro Inoue of Japan. Inoue had 15 home runs a year ago and is 10 home runs away from the career home run record at WNCC.
Other returning position players includes Dylan Harris of Broomfield, Colorado, Bryce Peterson of Brighton, Colorado; Ashton Ross of Westminster, Colorado; Hunter McCollum of Scottsbluff; Tyler Easter of Sandy, Utah; Garrett Dodd of Laramie, Wyoming; Calvin Johnson of Axtell, Nebraska; and Alex Ainsworth of Conifer, Colorado.
While Inoue, who signed with Kansas State in November, is back and will be a key piece to the puzzle, Jones said they have plenty of others around him that can produce.
"Baseball is a wonderful game and an entire team game. One guy cannot win you a ball game," he said. "You have to put a lineup together one through nine whoever's time is to play, that is who is up. You cannot rearrange your line up to make sure Shintaro has the bat in his hand at the end of the game. It is a team game and it will be important for everybody to take control of their roles to help us to win baseball games."
The pitching returners include Nick Tremblay of Quebec, Canada; Adrian Short of Berthoud, Colorado; Myttchel Pollock of Wheatland, Wyoming; and Valentin Blanc of Montcuq, France.
McCollum, who saw action as a starting centerfielder and sometimes at shortstop a year ago, will be seeing more time as a starting pitcher.
"Hunter McCollum will pitch a whole lot for us this year," Jones said. "He has really embraced at being a starting pitcher this year. He was always a talented young man coming out of Scottsbluff. He has matured into a very good adult and has grown into a very responsible man and a good baseball player. We have high expectations of Hunter, Adrian Short, Myttchel Pollock, Valentine Blanc, and Nick Tremblay who all guys that will pitch a lot for us."
The freshmen on the team are also talented. The freshmen pitchers include position players Landon Lockwood from Great Falls, Montana; Kensei Oikawa from Miyagi, Japan; Caleb Caciari of Evans, Colorado; Tucker Deal of Montcuq, France; Mathieu Levesque from Gatineau, Quebec; Arturo Montiel of Mexico City, Mexico; Kyler Adams of Erie, Colorado; Cameryn Spence of Douglas, Wyoming; Ryan Platt of Longmont, Colorado; and Asahi Nakano of Kawagoe, Japan.
The freshmen pitchers include Nakano, Deal, and Caciari that will be used as pitchers as well. Other pitchers include Julian Garza of Aurora, Colorado; Rocco Harmon of Ft. Collins, Colorado; Zane Hendricks of Antwerpen, Belgium; and Cameron Meyer of Scottsbluff.
Other players on the team that are red-shirting this season include local players Moises Panduro and Hunter Garcia of Scottsbluff, and Ben Firminhac of Torrington, Wyoming. Others on the team that are red-shirting are Clayden Brandon of West Herriman, Utah; Austin Cooper of Bozeman, Montana; David Fleischer of Parker, Colorado; Cooper Gilliland of Parker, Colorado; Catcher Gladysh of Brighton, Colorado; Gabriel Guillen of Miami, Florida; Easton Miller of Cibola, Texas; Jase Satterfield of Grand Junction, Colorado; and Cameron Wright of Surrey, British Columbia.
After this weekend, the Cougars will hit the road to face Barton Community College February 17-18 in Great Bend, Kansas, and then have back-to-back home weekend games when they face Miles Community College February 24 and 25 and then Dawson Community College March 2 and 3.
"I hope this weather stays nice and it will be great to play at home and not to travel so much when we face two quality opponents in Miles and Dawson," Jones said. "Let's hope the weather holds out."