MCC baseball splits doubleheader against Lamar

The McCook Community College baseball team split its conference home opener against Lamar Community College Sunday at Jaycees Sports Complex.

McCook dropped game one 6-3 and came back in game two to win 9-4.

McCook improves to 2-2 in the conference while Lamar improves to 5-1.

In game one, it was scoreless going into the fifth inning when Lamar struck for four runs on only one hit.

Lamar took advantage of two McCook errors and a wild pitch to score their first two runs, then after a walk they belted a two-run home run to go up 4-0, Lamar scored two more runs in the sixth off another McCook error and two hits.

Trailing 6-0 going into the bottom of the seventh, McCook rallied for three runs and brought the tying run to the plate but a fly out to center field would end the game.

Andre O'Conner started and took the loss for the Indians as he threw a complete game giving up six runs three earned on six hits while striking out six and walking three.

Offensively the Indians only collected four hits in the game all singles included a two RBI single from shortstop Lars Trizila and an RBI single from left fielder Pat Knabe.

In game two, the offense came alive, after scoring a single run in the first inning the Indians exploded for a six run second and then added single runs in the third and fourth inning to build a 9-3 lead before cruising to the 9-4 victory.

Andre Behan got the scoring started in the first when he singled stole second and was singled in by Matt Raabe.

The six-run second was highlighted by 5 hits including two from freshman third baseman Tyler Vessey and a two-RBI double from right fielder Taylor Trotter, Vessey, Trizila, Raabe and Behan all added RBIs in the frame.

Behan scored another run in the third, while Vessey doubled and scored in the fourth. Offensively McCook collected 11 hits in the game including a 3-for-4 and 2 runs scored performance from Vessey, freshman Designated hitter Nick Bertron was 2-for-4 with an RBI, Raabe was 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and Behan was 1-for-2 with 3 runs scored and 2 stolen bases.

Sophomore Austin Parker got the win on the mound going six strong innings giving up four runs three earned on seven hits while striking out eight and walking only two. Jesse Zeller came in to throw a scoreless seventh inning.

"I was really happy with the game two victory," said MCC baseball coach Jon Olsen. "I thought it was the best game we have played all year, we put all three phases together. "We had good offense pitched well and committed just one error." I felt we played pretty good all day we just lost a good game to a good team in game one."

"If we can continue to play up to our ability we should do well in our league, but we have to get rid of a few of the inconsistencies. The teams in our league are too good to be inconsistent and win on a routine basis.

"We have another tough doubleheader Monday with Trinidad so hopefully we are ready to go and have another good day."