Jude Russell had a career night for the Western Nebraska Community College baseball team on Saturday in game two against Otero College.

                The freshman had three home runs and drove in eight RBIs, including a walk-off 3-run home run to lift the Cougars to a 15-5 win over Otero in an Empire Conference contest.

                The first game saw the Cougars' offense sputter as Otero collected the 5-2 win.

WNCC moved to 16‑25 overall, but more importantly, improved to 8‑6 in conference play and remains in third place behind McCook and Northeastern Junior College at 13‑3. Otero moved to 7‑7 in conference and 13‑23 overall.

                WNCC and Otero will wrap up the 4-game series on Sunday at Cleveland Field with first pitch slated for 12 noon.

                Russell's performance was epic, as his three home runs ties him for second most in a game. The record holder is Pete Rogers, who had four home runs in 2003. Russell's eight RBIs in a game are also tied for second, as Rogers had 10 RBIs back in 2003.

                Russell said he has never hit three home runs in a game before.

                "That is something I've never done before," the Ashten, Ontario, native said. "It is just a cool moment in my life, my baseball career. The offense came alive (in game two). We have a really good offense, like one of the best, if not the best."

                Russell went 4-for-5 from the plate in game two with four runs scored, eight RBIs and had one single to go with his three home runs.

                Russell had a single in the second and then smacked his first home run, a 2-run shot, in the third with two outs for a 6-5 WNCC lead. His second home run came in the sixth when he had a 2-run shot to give the Cougars a 12-5 lead. He then ended the game in the seventh with a 2-out, 3-run home run to right field.

                Russell said it felt good when he made contact with that 7th-inning walk-off home run.

                "I was just in disbelief," he said. "I couldn't believe I did that. Again, I've never done that before."

                Russell said the team really responded after dropping the first game.

                "I think we played really well," he said. "I think even when we went down, we fought back, trusted our offense, trusted our pitching, trusted our defense. It's just a good team effort."

                While Russell had a career night in game two, the Cougars got behind the eight-ball early, trailing 5-0 after an inning and a half. Otero scored two in the first and three in the second. After that, though, the Cougar pitching staff and defense held the Rattlers scoreless the rest of the game.

                WNCC started their offense going in the second when they plated three runs as Will Harbison doubled followed by a Russell single. Cooper Wilson scored Harbison for the first run of the game with a single. WNCC loaded the bases and Vaughn Wilson had a sacrifice fly for the second run while the third run came in on a balk.

                The Cougars went ahead in the third with three more runs on Russell's 3-run home run for the 6-5 lead.

                The Cougars followed with two runs over the next three innings. The fourth saw Harrison Hart deliver a big run-scoring double. The fifth saw Daniel Chavez deliver a 2-out 2-run home run, while the sixth had Russell's home run as the big hit for a 12-5 lead.

                Catcher Gladysh singled to open the seventh. Then, with two outs, Payton Denny earned a 4-pitch walk followed by Russell taking the first pitch for the walk-off hit.

                WNCC had 13 hits in the contest while Otero had just four. Gladysh and Cooper Wilson also had multiple hits in the win with two each.

                Allard Helms got the win on the mound, going six innings in surrendering four hits, five runs, walking three, and striking out nine. Javier Pena had a strong seventh inning in striking out two.

                The first game saw the Cougars struggle offensively with just four hits to eight for Otero. It was a game where both teams only scored single runs in the innings.

                After Otero went up 1-0 in the first, WNCC tied the game at 1-1 with a run in the second. Cooper Wilson tripled and scored on a Garrison Burns groundout. Otero went up 3-1 with single runs in the third and fourth.

                The Cougars made it a 3-2 game with a run in the fourth when Harbison doubled and scored on a Burns single. WNCC left the bases loaded in the frame.

                Otero added two more runs in the sixth and seventh and got the Cougars out in order in the last three innings.

Game 1
Otero                   101 101 1 – 5 8 0
WNCC                010 100 0 – 2 4 1
LP – Carter Reisig.
2B – Will Harbison.
3B – Cooper Wilson.

Game 2
Otero                   230 000 0 – 5 4 1
WNCC                033 222 3 – 15 13 2
WP – Allard Helms.
2B – Harrison Hart, Will Harbison.
HR – Jude Russell 3, Daniel Chavez.