It was an offensive weekend for the Western Nebraska Community College baseball team as they scored 52 runs in four games in taking all four games from Dawson Community College over the weekend at Cleveland Field.
Saturday's action saw WNCC score 14 runs in the fourth inning enroute to a 20-0 win. The second game saw WNCC open up a close contest with seven, fifth-inning runs to claim the 10-1 win.
Sunday's contests were a little closer. In the opener, WNCC out-hit Dawson 10-5 that saw a home run from Landon Lockwood as the Cougars downed the Bucs 7-2. The second game was one where the Cougars trailed 10-2 after 4 ½ innings, but plated 10 runs in the fifth to take a 12-10 lead and won 15-10.
Calab Caciari, who went 2-for-2 with a home run in the second-game win, said the team played well over the weekend.
"I think we played pretty good. We did good on offense and our pitching kept us in the game and that helped a lot," Caciari said. "We just put up the runs and in that last game, game four, we came back from a big deficit."
That comeback in the second game on Sunday was huge as the team never gave up and got the hits when they needed to overcome the late 8-run deficit.
"It was really big to come back and it showed us who we are as a team," Ciciari, the infielder from Evans, Colorado, said. "We work on those situations in practice and do nine outs just to keep our competitive level up and it showed right there where we came back in that one inning."
Sunday's second game was the exciting one as WNCC fell behind 10-2 and it looked as if the Bucs were going to steal a game from the Cougars. The bottom of the fifth was the inning that changed the momentum of the contest.
Ciciari started the fifth with a solo home run. That home run jump started the offense as the next two batters walked and the Cougars loaded the bases with one out after Catcher Gladysh was hit by a pitch. Two more scored on a one-out single by Landon Lockwood. With the bases loaded once again, Ren Sato scored three with a triple to make it a 10-8 contest. Sato would later score on a pick-off attempt at first that went away and then Cooper Wilson scored to tie the game on an Austin Cooper single. WNCC wasn't through as they took the lead as Cooper scored on a fielder's choice hit and Kensei Oikawa made it 12-10 WNCC when he scored on a Jin Kobayakawa double.
WNCC added more insurance runs in the sixth as Sato scored on with a single followed by Wilson scoring another with a triple. Wilson scored the last run on a Caciari single to make it 15-10.
WNCC had 15 hits in the win. Caciari and Sato each had two hits. Sato had four RBIs with a triple and two runs scored while Caciari had a home run and single with two RBIs and two runs scored.
Marshall Forsyth got the win in relief of starter Allard Helms. Forsyth went two innings in scattering two hits, allowing four runs and striking out three. Scottsbluff's Carter Reisig finished off the game with two innings of work by allowing just one hit and striking out two
The first game on Sunday saw WNCC get an early 4-0 lead with two runs each in the second and third. Dawson answered with single runs in the fifth and sixth, but the Cougars added three insurance runs in the sixth for the 7-2 victory.
WNCC outhit Dawson 10-5 in that game. Vaughn Wilson led the way with three hits and two runs scored. Lockwood added two hits with a home run and two RBIs.
Rocco Harmon got the win from the mound, going five innings in scattering three hits with six strikeouts. Matthew Hazzard and Alex Renfrow each tossed an inning.
Saturday's game one saw WNCC open the offense with 12 hits and seven extra base hits. It was a 6-0 lead through three innings when WNCC decided to open the contest with 14 runs in the fourth.
The fourth started when Vaughn Wilson had a one-out double. Kobayakawa followed with a run-scoring single. Vaughn Wilson would bat for a second time in the inning and get a run-scoring single to make it 12-0 followed by his brother Cooper Wilson getting a 2-run single to make it 14-0. Kobayakawa would follow with a 2-run double and then Lockwood would score a run with a double. Cooper Burgess would end the inning with a 3-run home run to make it 20-0.
WNCC had 12 hits in the contest with Kobayakawa going 4-for-4 with two doubles, six RBIs, and three runs scored. Vaughn and Cooper Wilson each had two hits with three runs scored. Cooper Wilson had three RBIs. Burgess had four RBIs.
Clayden Brandon went all five innings in allowing just two hits and four strikeouts.
The second game on Saturday saw Dawson take the led first with a run in the third. WNCC answered with a run in the third and then opened the contest with seven in the fifth for an 8-0 win. WNCC finished off the game with two in the sixth for the 10-1 win.
WNCC had nine hits in the contest as Austin Cooper went 3-for-4 and missed hitting for the cycle by a single. Cooper had a double, triple, and home run to go with two runs scored and an RBI.
Kyler Adams also had two hits in the win with a home run and three RBIs. Matt Levesque also had a home run.
The Cougars are hoping that taking four from Dawson will help them build as they are getting ready for a Spring Break trip next weekend in Arizona. Before that, the Cougars have a scheduled home game with Northeast Community College from Norfolk on Thursday, but that is contingent on the weather. Caciari said these wins should help the confidence going into the Arizona trip.
"Hopefully, these jump into next week when we play Northeast and spring boarding from there into Arizona and right into the league," he said. "This was a good four-win series and we expected it and now it on to our next games."
Sunday
Game 1
Dawson 000 011 0 – 2 5 1
WNCC 022 003 x – 7 10 0
WP – Rocco Harmon.
3B – Cooper Wilson.
HR – Landon Lockwood.
Game 2
Dawson 015 310 0 – 10 8 2
WNCC 002 0(10)3 x – 15 11 5
WP – Marshall Forsyth.
2B – Jin Kobayakawa, Cooper Wilson.
3B – Catcher Gladysh, Ren Sato.
HR – Calab Ciciari
Saturday
Game 1
Dawson 000 00 – 0 2 0
WNCC 510 (14)x – 20 12 0
WP – Clayden Brandon.
2B – Vaughn Wilson, Cooper Wilson, Jin Kobayakawa 2, Landon Lockwood.
3B – Jase Satterfield.
HR – Cooper Burgess.
Game 2
Dawson 001 000 0 – 1 4 3
WNCC 001 072 x – 10 9 1
WP – Julian Garza.
2B – Austin Cooper.
3B – Austin Cooper.
HR – Matt Levesque, Austin Cooper, Kyler Adams.