MCC Baseball tops Southeast CC; 2-0 in tournament

PUEBLO, Colo. – The McCook Community College baseball team picked up a 9-5 win in the second round of the Region IX Tournament at Damon Runyon Field Sports Complex. The Indians improve to 2-0 in the double-elimination format and will face top-seeded Northeastern Junior College Saturday at 3 p.m. These are the two teams without a loss so far in the tournament.

MCC jumped out on top with a five-run sixth inning to lead 6-0 as sophomore Tate Anderson (Auckland, New Zealand) threw 122 pitches in seven-plus innings to improve to 10-1 on the season with relief help from sophomore Raul Romero (Brisbane, Queensland Australia). Sophomore Dalton Berg crashed a pair of home runs and Tyler Reyburn (Frederick, Colo.) continued his hot hitting with a three-hit game.

"Pretty opposite today from yesterday," said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. "I thought we played really well today, obviously Tait threw a great game for us, and Raul came in and did a great job."

MCC, the visiting team on the scoreboard, broke up a scoreless tie with a run in the fifth inning. Up to that point Bobcat starter Jordan Lemon had been tough but with two outs, sophomore Connor Charvat (Omaha) doubled and scored on an RBI-single by Reyburn.

"Offensively we knew their starter would be tough and he was, I don't think we had a hit until the fifth but then got on the board and had a huge sixth," said Olsen.

The Indians posted five runs in the sixth. Freshman Kon Yoshimura (Nagasaki, Japan) singled to lead off the inning. After one out Berg homered to center field to give MCC a 3-0 lead it was Berg's 18th of the season. Sophomore Corbin Lochhead (Vegreville, Alberta) drew a two-out walk, and the Indians got back-to-back singles from sophomore Hunter Southey (Auckland, New Zealand) and Charvat to make it 4-0. Reyburn followed with an RBI-single and Charvat scored on a passed ball to put the Indians in front 6-0.

Southeast got a leadoff double in the home-half of the sixth and scored on a one out single to make it a 6-1 game. The Bobcats sent seven batters to the plate in the seventh and closed the deficit to 6-3 with a walk, a hit batter, and back-to-back singles. With a runner on third and one out, Anderson got out of the inning inducing a popout and getting a strikeout to end the threat.

Freshman Bunji Nakao (Auckland, New Zealand) took the momentum back by hitting a solo home run to lead off the eighth inning and give MCC a 7-3 lead. It was his first home run of the season. Southeast countered with a solo blast leading off the bottom of the eighth and after issuing a one out single, Anderson was relieved by Romero, who got out of the inning giving up a sacrifice fly and an inning-ending groundout to make it a 7-5 MCC lead.

"We kind of went all hands on-deck out of the bullpen and felt like he was a good option for us," said Olsen. "We defended at a high level, and just played a really, really clean game."

Anderson gave up five runs on 13 hits with one walk and a strikeout.

Yoshimura was hit by a pitch to lead off the MCC ninth. It was his fifth time reaching base in the game with his second hit-by-pitch. He also had a walk and two singles. After one out, Berg launched his second homer of the game and 19th of the year to put MCC up 9-5.

"We had some guys really step up for us, Berg had two huge swings and Bunji had a big swing, Charvat and Reyburn were great and Kon was on base every time," said Olsen.

Romero allowed a one-out single but retired the final two Bobcats to pick up the save, his first of the season. He pitched the final 1.2 innings, allowing the one single with no runs, no walks and no strikeouts.

Anderson improved to a league-best 10-1 on the season.

MCC had 12 hits with three each by Charvat and Reyburn and two each by Yoshimura and Berg.

"I'm just really happy with the effort and happy for our guys, they keep getting back after it. It is good to be where we are and we'll be ready to play tomorrow."

In other tournament action, top-seeded Northeastern Junior College opened their post-season run with an 8-2 win over Otero. MCC improved to 41-17 on the season to send SCC to (27-24) to the elimination bracket. The Bobcats will play the 11 a.m. game Saturday against Western Nebraska. The Cougars eliminated Otero 16-7 in the final game Friday.

Region IX-Tournament
Damon Runyon Field Sports Complex - Pueblo, Colo.
May 7-10
Thursday's Results
Game 1 – McCook CC 14, Luna CC 13 (11 innings)
Game 2 – Otero 5, Western Nebraska 3
Game 3 – Western Nebraska 8, Luna CC 6 (Luna CC eliminated)
Friday's Results
Game 4 – Northeastern JC 8, Otero 2
Game 5 – McCook CC 9, Southeast Community College 5
Game 6 – Western Nebraska 16, Otero 7 (Otero eliminated)
Saturday, May 9
Game 7 – Western Nebraska (23-24) vs. Southeast CC (27-24), noon
Game 8 – Northeastern JC (41-14) vs. McCook (41-17), 3 p.m.
Game 9 – Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Loser, 6 p.m.
Sunday, May 10
Game 10 – Game 8 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner, noon
Game 11 – If necessary, 3 p.m.