The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team earned a split of Empire Conference games on Wednesday against conference-leading McCook Community College.
The first game was a pitcher's duel early, then McCook exploded for 11 runs to take the 12-3 win. The second contest saw the Cougars plate seven second-inning runs to register the 19-9 run-ruled win in seven innings.
Ty Beutner, who had two doubles and a home run in the second game win, said the team didn't have the spark in the first game like they did in the second. But how they earned the split was important for their morale against McCook.
"Honestly, we just came out with more fire to start putting it together in the second game," the sophomore from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, said. "The first game we just looked a little cold and then we started getting hot. We just strung everything together.
"It was really important to get the split because now we know that we can actually hang with them and we're a good enough team to go out there and win. So, it gives us a lot of confidence."
The two teams will be right back at it Friday when WNCC travels to McCook for a doubleheader against the Indians. WNCC improves to 12-10 in the conference and 20-29 overall while McCook drops to second-place in the conference at 17-5 and 38-11 overall.
The first game, it was hard to get the offense going with strong pitching performances from WNCC's Payton Denny and McCook's Tait Anderson. The two pitchers were dialed in as it was just a 3-2 game through five innings.
"So, that first game the pitchers were dialed in so it was a little bit harder for the hitters to get a hit," Beutner said.
The second contest saw the Cougars take control of the game early and never look back. Beutner said that second inning was the momentum change that the team needed.
"That second inning was the momentum change and we needed that," he said. "We needed to keep just putting it on them and show them that we could hit. That's what we did."
The second game saw the Cougars offense come alive, finishing with 16 hits and all nine batters had at least one hit. Beutner led the offense with a 3-for-4 game with two doubles, a home run, five RBIs, and two runs scored.
Five other players had two hits each from Catcher Gladysh, Harrison Hart, Cooper Wilson, Jude Russell, and Jack Sughroue. Gladysh had three RBIs with two runs scored, while Wilson had three RBIs, Russell had a double with two runs scored, and Sughroue had a home run with three RBIs and four runs scored.
WNCC also got a strong start on the mound from Javier Pena, who went four innings while scattering five hits, allowing two runs and striking out three. Marshall Forsyth finished the game with three innings pitched, allowing three hits, seven runs, and striking out five.
Both teams plated a run in the first. McCook took a 2-1 lead in the top of the second, but the Cougars responded in the bottom of the second in a big way with seven runs on five hits.
WNCC loaded the bases to start the second. Cooper Wilson scored the first run on a wild pitch. Sughroue followed with a three-run home run to make it 5-2 with no outs. Beutner followed with a double and then Daniel Chavez drew a walk. Gladysh scored two more with a double and Gladysh came in to score on a ground out for the 8-2 lead.
WNCC added a single run in the fourth to go up 9-2. McCook came back with five in the fifth to make it a 9-7 including an inside-the-park home run from Connor Charvat.
The Cougars responded with four in the bottom of the frame. Payton Denny singled followed by Sughroue drawing a walk. WNCC loaded the bases with another walk and then Will Harbison stroked a double to score three runs. Harbison came in to score on a Cooper Wilson two-out single for a 13-7 lead.
WNCC plated three runs in the sixth for a 16-7 lead on a three-run home run off the bat of Beutner.
McCook added two in the seventh only to watch WNCC walk it off with three in the bottom of the seventh. Jude Russell led things off with a double. The Cougars loaded the bases and Beutner took the first pitch for a two-run double to score two. McCook intentionally walked Chavez to load the bases and Harbison lofted a sacrifice fly to score Sughroue with the walk-off run.
Beutner said it was important that the team continued to keep hitting and scoring in that second game.
"It's very important (to keep scoring runs) because it makes them feel like they're already out of the game even if there's a couple innings left," he said. "If you're just still hitting, it's just going to demoralize them, keep them down."
The first game was breezing along as the two teams played four innings in just 45 minutes with WNCC holding a 2-1 lead. After that, things slowed down as McCook plated two in the fifth, five in the second, and four in the seventh for the 12-3 win.
McCook scored the first run in the second with two outs. The lead stayed that way until the fourth when Will Harbison led off with a first-pitch solo home run. Harrison Hart followed with a solo home run two batters later to put the Cougars up 2-1.
McCook came back with back-to-back solo home runs in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead and expanded the lead in the sixth with five runs on three home runs for the 8-2 lead. WNCC got something going in the sixth when Harbison led off with a double and Gladysh earned a walk. The Cougars loaded the bases with a Cooper Wilson single. Harbison would later score on a wild pitch, but that was all they could manage.
WNCC finished with just six hits in the contest. Harbison led the way with a 3-for-3 performance with two doubles, a home run, and an RBI. Harrison Hart had the other RBI with his solo home run.
Payton Denny went five strong innings allowing just three runs and five hits. Jack McCrea and Trevor Beutner followed, combining for nine runs and six hits before Moi Panduro wrapped up the game on the hill with just one hit and no runs allowed.
Game 1
McCook 010 025 4 – 12 12 0
WNCC 000 201 0 – 3 6 1
LP – Payton Denny.
2B – Will Harbison 2.
HR – Harrison Hart, Will Harbison.
Game 2
McCook 110 050 2 – 9 8 2
WNCC 170 143 3 – 19 16 2
WP – Javier Pena
2B – Ty Beutner 2, Daniel Chavez, Jude Russell, Will Harbison.
HR – Jack Sughroue, Ty Beutner.