BEATRICE – The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team dropped four games to Southeast Community College in Empire Conference action on Saturday and Sunday.
On Saturday, the Cougars fell to the Bobcats 27-1 and 9-6. Sunday’s action saw Southeast plate 30 runs in the two games compared to three for the Cougars. Southeast won the first game 18-1 and the second game 12-2.
WNCC falls to 21-26 overall and to 12-8 in conference play. WNCC is fourth as Southeast leads the conference at 18-2 followed by McCook at 16-4 and Otero at 11-7.
WNCC will be back in action this weekend when they host McCook on Friday and then travel to McCook on Sunday in key conference games.
Sunday’s contests saw a close game take away the third and fourth where the Bobcats plated 17 runs to lead 18-1. WNCC’s only run in the contest came in the fourth on a Tyler Easter home run.
WNCC managed four hits in the game.
Game two had a little more offense for the Cougars as they pounded out nine hits led by two hits each from Easter, Bryce Peterson, and Shintaro Inoue.
WNCC actually had the lead first scoring twice in the first. Hunter McCollum started the rally after being plunked by a pitch. McCollum scored on an Inoue double and Inoue came in to score on an Easter single for the 2-0 lead.
That was all WNCC managed as Southeast scored three in the first, three in the second, one in the third and five in the fourth to lead 12-2.
In Saturday’s action, game one saw Southeast score 14 times in the first and another 11 in the second to take a 25-0 lead. WNCC got one back in the fourth on a Kensei Oikawa home run, but that is all they could manage in falling 27-1.
WNCC had just three hits in the game compared to 16 for Southeast. Oikawa had two of the three hits.
Game two on Saturday was a lot closer as WNCC had seven hits with five going for extra bases. Inoue led the Cougars with two hits including a home run with three RBIs and two runs scored. Bryce Peterson and Easter each had home runs in the defeat.
WNCC had a 4-1 lead after three innings plating one in the first as McCollum doubled and scored on an Inoue ground out. Southeast scored one in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 1-1.
WNCC opened the game in the third with three runs. Dylan Harris started the rally with a double and scored on an Inoue single. Peterson followed with a 2-run home run for the 4-1 lead.
Southeast came back to plate two in the fourth to slice the deficit to 4-3. WNCC answered with two in the fifth to go up 6-3 on solo home runs from Inoue and Easter.
WNCC couldn’t hold the lead as Southeast scored six times in the seventh on just three hits including a grand slam.
Sunday’s Contests
Game 1
WNCC 000 10 – 1 4 1
Southeast 108 9x – 18 16 0
LP – Valentin Blanc.
HR – Tyler Easter.
Game 2
WNCC 200 000 0 – 2 9 3
Southeast 331 500 x – 12 9 1
LP – Nick Tremblay.
2B – Arturo Montiel, Shintaro Inoue, Bryce Peterson.
Saturday’s Games
Game 1
WNCC 000 10 – 1 3 1
Southeast (14)(11)0 2x – 27 16 0
LP – Hunter McCollum.
HR – Kensei Oikawa.
Game 2
WNCC 103 020 000 – 6 7 1
Southeast 100 200 60x – 9 8 0
LP – Rocco Harman.
2B – Dylan Harris, Hunter McCollum.
HR – Shintaro Inoue, Bryce Peterson, Tyler Easter.
