NORFOLK, Neb. – The Northeast Community College baseball team hosted No. 6 Iowa Central Community College Wednesday in a matchup of two of the top teams in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference. The Hawks took Game 1 by a final score of 21-11 before dropping Game 2 by a final score of 12-2.
Northeast (25-15, 12-5 ICCAC) fell behind 10-4 after the Tritons half of the fourth inning before putting together a furious comeback to eventually force a run rule. Tanner Johnson (Kearney, Neb.) entered the contest in the third inning and only allowed three hits and two earned runs. The Hawks offense exploded and scored 17 of the final 18 runs in the showdown. Brice Wallar (Papillion, Neb.) tallied four RBIs while Carter Noakes (Dannebrog, Neb.), Kale Jensen (Central City, Neb.) and Trenton Barry (Wahoo, Neb.) each had three RBIs of their own.
The explosion of runs for Northeast wasn’t as prevalent in Game 2 as the Hawks only recorded four hits in the second showdown of the afternoon. Ian Shaw (Ogallala, Neb.) accounted for both RBIs for Northeast as the Hawks will now hit the road after a split with the sixth-ranked squad in the nation.
STAT SHEET GAME 1:
Brice Wallar (Papillion, Neb.): 2-2, 2 R, 4 RBI, BB
Kale Jensen (Central City, Neb): 3-4, 2 2B, 3 R, 3 RBI, BB
Tanner Johnson (Kearney, Neb.): 2.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER
STAT SHEET GAME 2:
Ian Shaw (Ogallala, Neb.): 1-3, 2 RBI
Brice Wallar (Papillion, Neb.): 1-3, 2B, R
Braden Cork (Omaha, Neb.): 4.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 4 K
HEAR FROM THE HAWKS COACH:
Head Baseball Coach Marcus Clapp on the big comeback in Game 1 and the day as a whole:
“I thought we got aggressive,” Clapp said. “We attacked the ball and hit the ball. We put the ball in play. We got into their bullpen and we were able to put those runs up. I tell our guys that we are never out of a game. When we were down 10-4 people might have thought it was over, but we did a good job of closing the game out. Tale of two different games today. That’s baseball.”
Clapp on heading to Indian Hills this weekend:
“Another team and another weekend,” Clapp said. “If we play like we can, we will be alright. We have to cut down on the mistakes for us to have a chance this weekend.”
UP NEXT:
The Hawks will travel this weekend and will battle NJCAA DI Indian Hills Community College in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday in Ottumwa, Iowa.
