The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team used strong pitching in collecting an Empire Conference doubleheader from Lamar Community College Saturday afternoon at Cleveland Field.
The wins snapped a six-game losing skid by the Cougars and they stopped the skid with clutch pitching and timely hits.
Game one saw WNCC come back from two deficits to claim the 5-4 win as Dawson Hurford went five strong innings to get the win.
The second game saw Corbin Kirk strike out nine and the Cougar offense had clutch hits to claim the 10-5 win.
WNCC head coach Mike Jones said his team played well.
"Both of our starting pitchers did well," Jones said. "Guys came out of the bullpen and did what they were supposed to do. We played solid defense behind them. We ran the bases with some attitude and in an aggressive style. We hit a whole of line drives and hard ground balls."
In Cougars outhit the Lopes in both games. In the first game, the Cougars had nine hits with three doubles and in the second game, they had 13 hits with two home runs and three doubles.
"We were able to find our way on base and continue to put balls in play," Jones said. "The home runs, of course, are the easy runs when you start hitting home runs. But the tougher at bats we have to compete with two strikes and continue to put the ball in play and have the aggressive base running to manufacture runs. We have to continue to grow as an offense."
Game one saw Lamar grab a 2-0 lead on a home run by Demetrio Archuleta. WNCC answered with three runs in the second to go up 3-2. Dillon Fabricus led off the second scoring with a double. Quinn McCafferty followed with a walk. Sergio Tarango then doubled in both runners to tie the game at 2-2. Joseph Toubeaux then singled to put two on and Tarango scored on a Jordan Rollins single.
After Lamar went up 4-3, WNCC answered in the bottom of the fourth with two runs on two hits. Both runs came with two outs. Rollins started the rally with a 2-out walk and then Max Adam doubled to put two on. Jack Jones then scored both runners on a single to left field.
The game stayed that way and Lamar had an opportunity in the seventh with two on to tie or take the lead, but Owen Vanthillo shut down the door to get the save while Hurford got the win.
WNCC had nine hits. Toubeaux and Rollins each had two hits. Jack Jones and Tarango each had two RBIs in the game.
Hurford went 5 1/3 innings in scattering five hits and allowing four runs while striking out two. Vanthillo tossed the final two innings in not allowing a hit or run while striking out one.
Game two saw WNCC score five times in the first three innings. The first frame saw Rollins walk and score on a 2-out single by Eli Hernandez.
WNCC added three more in the second when Quinn McCafferty singled followed by Dylan Howard with a single. McCafferty scored on a steal home. With two outs, Rollins scored two more with a 2-run home run to make it 4-0.
The Cougars added one in the third as Hernandez had a home run for the 5-0 lead.
Lamar cut the lead to lead to 5-2 with two in the fourth, but WNCC came back with five in the fifth. Nelson started things with a double and scored on a Jack Jones double that bounced over the fence. Jones scored on a Hernandez hit that resulted in an error. Hernandez hustled in to score to make it 7-2 on a Drew Book single. WNCC goes up 9-2 as Tarango doubled to score Book. McCafferty came in to score after he stole second and came into score after the overthrow to second for the 10-2 lead.
Lamar added one in the sixth and two in the seventh, but that was it for the Lopes.
WNCC outhit Lamar 13-5 in game two. Rollins led the offense with three hits, including a home run, two RBIs, and two runs scored. Jack Jones, Hernandez, and McCafferty each had two hits. Hernandez had two RBIs and two runs scored, while McCafferty also scored twice.
Kirk got the win going five innings in allowing just three hits and two runs. Kirk struck out nine and walked two. Brian Bruxvoort got the save, tossing the final two innings in allowing two hits and three runs while striking out three.
WNCC and Lamar will have another conference doubleheader Sunday beginning at noon. Jones said they need to play just like they did today to get two more wins.
"We need to play exactly the same way we played today," he said. "We don't need to try to do anything more, we just have to come out with the right attitude."
Game 1
Lamar 200 200 0 – 4 5 0
WNCC 030 200 x – 5 9 3
WP – Dawson Hurford; S – Owen Vanthillo.
2B – Max Adam, Dillon Fabricus, Sergio Tarango.
Game 2
Lamar 000 201 2 – 5 5 1
WNCC 131 050 x – 10 13 1
WP – Corbin Kirk; S – Brian Bruxvoort.
2B – Jack Jones, Dalton Nelson, Sergio Tarango.
HR – Eli Hernandez, Jordan Rollins.