MCC baseball team splits a pair at Northeastern

STERLING, Colo. – The McCook Community College baseball team came back from an 8-7 loss in Game 1 Monday, got down 6-0 in the first inning of Game 2 but came back to win 18-12 and split the doubleheader with Northeastern Junior College.

The two teams also split the first two games of the series Friday in McCook.

“I really felt like the second game today was a key game in our season,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. “After the Game 2 loss Friday and one-run loss in Game 1 today, then getting down 6-0 after the first inning in Game 2 we needed a spark.”

In Game 1, MCC came back from a 6-1 deficit in the fifth inning to tie the game 6-6 and in the sixth tied the game at 7-7 but NJC scored the game winner on a sixth inning home run.

“Game 1, I just didn’t feel like we were ourselves, we didn’t play bad we just didn’t have the edge that we had been playing with the last couple weeks,” Olsen said. “It was a tough loss but like I said really good to have us bounce back in Game 2.”

The Indians trailed 6-0 after one inning of Game 2 but came back with a nine-run fourth inning behind a four-for-five game from sophomore Will Edwards (Sydney, Australia) and a seven-inning relief outing from sophomore Jereniel Herrera (Panama City, Panama).

“We needed a spark and boy did we get one from Jereniel today,” said Olsen. “He came in and shut the door, threw 7.2 only giving two earned runs and punching out 10, and Will Edwards had a huge game.”

NJC goes to 4-8 in the Region IX standings and 18-18 overall.

MCC goes to 8-4 in the region and 15-17 overall. The Indians will travel to Colby Wednesday for a 2 p.m. game then hit the road this weekend for a Region IX series at Trinidad State. The Trojans are 10-23 overall and 3-7 in the region.

All the latest information for MCC baseball including up-to-date schedule and changes as well as statistics, rosters and photos can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com.