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MCC drops two games to defending national champs
The McCook Community College men's baseball team hosted one of the top two-year college teams in the country Wednesday, March 13.
MCC head coach Jon Olsen said it can't matter who the Indians are playing -- the locals have to be ready to compete if the McCook squad is going to be successful.
Iowa Western Community College of Council Bluffs swept a double-header from MCC at the Jaycees Sports Complex. The Reivers claimed an 11-1 win in the opener, followed by a 9-4 decision in the nightcap.
McCook slipped to 8-12 overall and lost its third and fourth straight games. Iowa Western improved to 15-8 overall.
The Reivers are defending national champions in National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I. Iowa Western also won the national title in 2010 and have qualified for the NJCAA World Series national championship tournament six straight years. That said, Coach Olsen knows the game is won between the white lines, and Wednesday MCC wasn't good enough.
"They're a good team. They've had the success they've had, they're good," Olsen said of Iowa Western. "I just feel like we severely underperformed today. I don't know if it was just worrying about who we were playing or what. We just didn't play up to our ability, I feel like. That's been a little bit of the last couple weeks -- we're just underachieving a little bit.
"It's kind of a mindset thing. We're not defending good enough, we're not swinging good enough. We've just got to get better."
Iowa Western shut down the Indians in the opening game, as McCook mustered just one run. The locals got a little stronger offensive output in the second game.
Perhaps a big key to the second game's outcome came in the second inning, when McCook made a miscue on a potential play to end the inning with no runs scored by the Reivers. Iowa Western then scored four unearned runs following the MCC error.
The visitors scored at least one run in each of the first four innings in the second game to take an 8-2 lead. MCC pitcher Michael Lechman finally retired Iowa Western without a run scored in the top of the fifth.
IN McCOOK'S next at-bat, Ryan Silva and Grant Hindman hit back-to-back singles with one out after Clint Crabtree was hit by a pitch. With bases loaded, the Iowa Western pitcher attempted a pickoff throw to his third baseman standing left of the bag. The throw was bobbled and the ball sailed into foul territory, as Crabtree and Silva hustled home to get MCC within 8-4. The next two McCook batter struck out to end the threat.
MCC reliever Brad Powell came in and submarined the Reivers in the top of the sixth. The sidearm specialist induced three straight ground ball outs.
In the bottom of the sixth, Brennan Sheets hit a one-out single. But the MCC hopes were dashed with a double play to end the inning.
Iowa Western added an insurance run in the top of the seventh on a two-out RBI single. Silva hit a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh for McCook, but the next Indian hitter struck out to end the contest.
MCC's games with Colby (Kan.) C.C. Thursday were postponed due to scheduling conflicts for the Kansas squad. McCook is scheduled to visit Colby Wednesday, March 20 for a single game to start at 5 p.m.
THE COLBY trip will be McCook's next game, as the Indians will take a few days off for spring break.
"That will be good for them, probably," Coach Olsen said. The MCC mentor is hoping the break will help refuel his squad.
"Hopefully we'll get it going a little bit. Maybe we need a day or two off and get focused and go from there," Olsen said. "We've just got to get better. It's disappointing because I think we're a better team, and I think we'll get there, I really do."
Olsen noted that MCC has 36 games left in the regular season -- "two-thirds of our season," he said.