TRINIDAD, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College baseball put together two complete games and swept Trinidad State Junior College and win the best-of-3 series to advance to next week’s Region IX tournament in Colorado Springs.
The first game saw Paul Panduro strike out eight batters and set a single-season strikeout record in notching his 77th strikeout this season. The previous record was 70 strikeouts in a season set by Phillip Orta in 2006. Panduro’s pitching and seven home runs hit by the Cougars, two each by Jayden Orozco and Mikey Felton, helped the Cougars offset a 7-0 deficit to claim the 17-14 win.
The second game saw WNCC’s Trent Richter go six strong innings in striking out five in leading the Cougars to an 11-10 win.
Panduro, who gave up six runs in the first inning, finished strong in his five innings of work. Panduro said the team played well after the slow start.
“We played really well,” Panduro said. “The first game we started slow but got hot at the right time and the second game was pretty intense because we had to get the last 3 outs”
Panduro said a big reason for the wins was the energy the team brought.
“The energy we had was really outstanding,” he said. “We stayed as a team through it all and that’s what helped us come back all the way.”
Orozco, who had two home runs and four RBIs in the first game, said everything just came together.
“The team came out from the first game to the second game with lots of energy,” Orozco said. “Our hitting, pitching, and defense was a huge role to win both games.
WNCC trailed 7-0 in the first game and Orozco said the hitting found its groove in the fifth inning.
“Our hitting was the issue until the fifth inning,” he said. “The energy was still up and we got into the pitcher’s head very easily to blow away their 7-0 lead.”
Now, the Cougars advance to the Region IX Empire Conference tournament next week in Colorado Springs, Colorado. WNCC will face the winner of the Southeast/Otero series. Southeast beat Otero 15-1 on Friday.
Panduro said making it to the double-elimination tournament is huge for this team.
“It means big things are going to come for us because winning the series was really important and it will give us a huge momentum entering the region tournament,” he said. “We are going to have to stick together through adversity in order to win it all.”
Orozco said winning the series means a lot to this team.
“This means a lot to us because we have worked very hard as a team,” he said. “We know we are not the most talented team in our conference but our heart and dedication to the game is what gets us to fight for the regional title.”
Game one of the series was an offensive show. The two teams combined for 31 runs and 37 hits. Trinidad scored six in the first and led 7-0 through four innings. WNCC changed that in the fifth as the Cougars plated nine runs.
Quinn McCafferty led off the fifth with a solo home. Caleb Coats followed with a double and scored on Felton’s home run to cut the lead to 7-3. Luis Alcantara followed with a single and Jordan Rollins plated two more runs on a home run to make it 7-5. Joey Olson walked and Orozco drove a ball over the leftfield fence to tie the game at 7-7.
Dillon Fabricus singled and later scored on a wild pitch to WNCC up 8-7. The Cougars added a ninth run McCafferty scored on a wild pitch.
Trinidad came back to score three runs in the bottom of the fifth to grab a 10-9 lead. It was short-lived as WNCC scored six times in the sixth for a 15-10 lead.
The sixth saw Olson tie the game with a solo home runs. WNCC took the lead at 11-10 when McCafferty singled to score two runs in scoring Orozco and Fabricus. Coats reached on a dropped third strike and then Felton blasted a 3-run home run for the 15-10 lead.
WNCC went up 17-10 with two in the seventh. Orozco scored the two on a 2-run home run that also scored Olson.
Trinidad added four in the eight to cut the lead to 17-14, but that was as close Trinidad got.
WNCC had 20 hits in the win. Orozco went 4-for-4 with a double, two home runs, three runs scored, and four RBIs. Felton had three hits with two home runs, five RBIs, and two runs scored.
Dillon Fabricus had three singles with two runs scored. Alcantara, Olson, Womack, and McCafferty all had two hits. McCafferty had a home run with three RBIs and three runs scored.
The second game saw a battle until WNCC opened the contest with nine runs in the fourth and fifth innings. WNCC took a 1-0 lead in the second as Coats singled in Jack Jones.
Trinidad came back to score two in the second for a 2-1 lead. WNCC tied the game with a single run in the third on a Olson home run.
WNCC went up 5-2 with three runs in the fourth. Fabricus was hit by a pitch and Jones earned a walk. McCafferty had a run-scoring double followed by Coats scoring one with a single to score another run. Felton scored the final run on a ground out for the 5-2 lead.
The Cougars took a big lead at 11-2 with six runs. WNCC reached base four of five times on walks. Jones scored the first run on a ground ball error to put Jones on base and two runners come into score. Fabricus stole home for an 8-2 lead. Felton, Alcantara, and Matt Womak all scored on singles for the 11-2 lead.
Trinidad started to come back, scoring two in the fifth and single runs in the sixth and seventh. Trinidad led 11-6 after seven innings. Trinidad made a late run, scoring four runs but that was it asWNCC won 11-10.
WNCC had 11 hits in the contest. Alcantara had three hits with one RBI. Jones and Coats each had two hits. Jones had a double with two RBIs and three runs scored. Coats had two RBIs.
Game 1
WNCC 000 096 200 – 17 20 0
Trinidad 610 030 040 – 14 17 1
WP – Paul Panduro; S – Harold Baez.
2B – Caleb Coats, Jayden Orozco.
3B – Luis Alcantara.
HR – Mikey Felton 2, Quinn McCafferty, Joey Olson, Jayden Orozco 2, Jordan Rollins.
Game 2
WNCC 011 360 000 – 11 11 1
Trinidad 020 021 104 – 10 13 3
WP – Trent Richter; S – Owen Vanthillo.
2B – Jack Jones, Quinn McCafferty.
HR – Joey Olson.
