The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team swept Luna Community College on Saturday in an Empire Conference doubleheader at a chilly Cleveland Field on Saturday.
The first game saw Scottsbluff's Hunter McCollum register five RBIs including a go-ahead 2-run home run in the sixth inning for the 6-5 win. The second contest saw the Cougars get strong pitching from Nick Tremblay and Gus Allred as the two combined on nine strikeouts for the 7-5 win.
WNCC has now won five-straight and are sitting on top of the North conference at 4-0 with McCook in second at 3-1, Northeastern Junior College at 2-2 and Southeast at 1-2. McCook took 3-of-4 from Lamar Community College over the weekend while NJC split with Trinidad State.
WNCC will be back in action Friday and Saturday when they hit the road for a 4-game series at Trinidad State.
Ashton Ross, who had a big home run in the game two win, said the wins on Saturday were a team effort.
"I thought the team played great today on offense and defense," Ross said. "The defense picked up the offense and the offense picked up the defense. Everyone played their role today. Even when we were down in the first game, we came back and then the game we came out strong with the offense and our pitching was able to hold the win for us."
Ross said they had a good performance this weekend to take care of business.
"We had a really good performance to get the series sweep," he said. "Everyone played good. Hunter McCollum had five RBIs in the first game and we only had six runs, so Hunter played great in that first game. And Nick (Tremblay) and Gus (Allred) both pitched great in that second game."
Ross said the team has won five straight and they want to keep the win streak going.
"We have to continue to have fun in practice. We had a good week in practice this past week," Ross said. "One thing that I wanted to stress was coach had us doing some bunting in practice and we shown that today in the game to get the bunts down. We just need to have a good week in practice and keep the momentum going."
WNCC was out-hit 10-8 in the first game, but it was what they did with the hits that got the job done. McCollum had the hot bat with a 3-for-4 performance with five RBIs, two runs scored. McCollum was a double shy of hitting for the cycle with a single, triple, and home run.
Shintaro Inoue had two singles while Ross, Garrett Dodd, and Tyler Easter all had singles.
Valentin Blanc started and went five innings in allowing four runs while striking out four. Rocco Harmon picked up the win in tossing the final two innings in allowing two hits, a run, and striking out one.
WNCC plated one in the first when McCollum singled and scored on a ground out for the 1-0 lead. Luna came back to score one in the second and then two in the top of the fourth for a 3-1 lead.
WNCC answered with three in the bottom of the fourth. Ross led off with a single followed by Dodd with a single. With two outs, Dylan Harris loaded the bases after reaching on an error. That error led to McCollum ripping a triple to rightfield that scored three runs for the 4-3 lead.
WNCC couldn't hold the lead as Luna scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to lead 5-4. Harris and McCollum teamed up to make a comeback in the sixth with two outs. First, it was Harris that earned a full-count walk. McCollum then then delivered the blow, taking the second pitch and rocketing it over the left field fence for the 6-5 lead.
Luna had a chance to tie the game in the seventh with two on, but Harmon got the first out on a strikeout and then induced a double-play ball to end the game.
The second game saw Tremblay go seven innings in scattering 11 hits and allowing five hits with five strikeouts for the win. Allred got the save in tossing two innings in allowing one hit and striking out four.
WNCC, again, was outhit 12-9, but did what they needed to get the win. Caleb Caciari, McCollum, and Mathieu Levesque each had two hits. Ross and Dodd each socked home runs in the win.
WNCC led start to finish. WNCC scored first with two in the second when Tyler Easter was hit with a pitch followed by a 2-run home run by Ross for the 2-0 lead.
Luna added one in the third to make it 2-1, but the Cougars answered with two in the fourth for a 4-1 lead. Dodd was hit by a pitch followed by a 2-ount successful bunt my Levesque to put two on. Caciari then singled in Dodd and Levesque scored on a wild pitch.
Luna came right back and trailed 4-3 with two solo home runs by Jaden Trujillo and Wilmer Henriquez. WNCC answered with three in the bottom of the sixth and had a chance to blow the game open.
Dodd led off the inning with a solo home run. That was followed by Arturo Montiel getting hit by a pitch. WNCC loaded the bases with singles by Levesque and a bunt single by Caciari. McCollum scored one run on a single followed by Levesque scoring on a double-play hit for the 7-3 lead.
Luna scored two more in the seventh, but Allred came in and shot down the Roughriders bats for the win in facing just eight batters with two strikeouts and inducing ground balls for the win.
Game 1
Luna 010 211 0 – 5 10 2
WNCC 100 302 x – 6 8 2
WP – Rocco Harmon.
3B – Hunter McCollom.
HR – Hunter McCollum.
Game 2
Luna 001 002 200 – 5 12 0
WNCC 020 203 00x – 7 9 1
WP – Nick Trembaly; S – Gus Allred.
HR – Ashton Ross, Garrett Dodd.