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Indians start baseball playoffs today
McCook Community College’s baseball eam knew it needed at least one win to have a chance to get into the post-season for the second straight year and did just that; winning game one of the doubleeader with Empire Conference Champions Western Nebraska 9-2 on Friday.
MCC would drop game two, 8-4, and finish the regular season at 28-25 overall and 20-16 in Empire Conference play.
WNCC would clinch the Indians playoff ticket by defeating Lamar on the final game of the regular season.
McCook enters the tournament as the No. 1seed and take on the 1-seed Western Nebraska in Scottsbluff today.
The Indians went 2-4 against the Cougars during the regular season; 1-1 in Scottsbluff.
This marks the first back-to-back playoff appearances for MCC since the post-season format changed in 2008.
“It’s a great feeling to be back in the postseason. We started out the year 0-6 in league and finished 20-16, which shows the type of baseball we were playing by the end of the year,” coach Jon Olsen said. “With only the top four teams getting into the tournament, every game matters and we did just enough to earn this opportunity, now we just have to keep playing good, clean baseball. I like what we can do on the mound and at the plate; if we can stay focused we are going to be a tough out.”
In game one on Friday, WNCC jumped out to an early 2-0 lead to open the game, but a Michael Sookdeo two-run blast to right would give the Indians a 3-2 lead after one.
That’s all the support Indian starter Chase Adams would need.
Adams (6-5) would get the win; throwing a complete game, giving up only the two runs on three hits while striking out 16.
The Cougars could only muster four base runners after the first inning. Offensively Michael Sookdeo would lead the Indians with two home runs and four RBI for the gamewhile Dominic Paratore would get three RBI of his own.
Keanu Van Kuren went four for four and Dylan White added three hits.
In game two, MCC oepned the scoring in the second with a two-out RBI single from Nate Matuza, but WNCC exploded for five runs in the third and two more in the fourth. Eugene Tullar (6-6) took the loss for MCC on the mound, while Luke Egging and Jeff Griffith threw well in relief, giving up one run over 3 2/3 innings.
Offensively, MCC was led by Matuza with two hits and two RBIs.
The Empire Conference Tournament bracket is a double-elimination format with single nine-inning games each day.
The Empire Conference Champion will represent Region IX in the Western District tournament, hosted by Region I (Arizona) with a berth to the JuCo World Series on the line.