WNCC baseball splits doubleheader with Dawson

Photo: Payton Denny just gets into home plate to score a run ahead of the tag from Dawson's catcher.

                Sunday was a mixed bag of results for the Western Nebraska Community College as the Cougars wrapped up a 4-game series with Dawson Community College at Cleveland Field.

                The first game saw Dawson score four early runs and then held the Cougar offense in check to register the 6-3 win.

                The second game saw Dakota Alber hit a grand slam in the third inning and the Cougars registered the 13-3, 7-inning run-ruled win.

                WNCC, 5-13, will have a pair of games on Wednesday against McCook Community College at Cougar Palace before the team leaves for their Arizona Spring Break trip this weekend.

                Alber, a freshman outfielder from Commerce City, Colorado, said the team came out flat in the first game, but picked it up in game two.

                “The first game we came out kind of flat. The sticks weren’t really hot the first game,” Alber said. “The second game we came out ready. Jack (McCrea) came in, shut them down for a few innings and then the offense got hot and ended up with the win.”

                The offense in the second game got hot in the third inning where they scored seven runs to take the lead. Alber was the big key as he had the grand slam, which was his first of his career.

                “The offense just got hot at the right time and we did our job and Jack went out there and kept shoving and then Jahrell came in and closed it for us,” Alber said. “The grand slam felt good. I popped up my first AB and I was really just trying to get a hit the other way with the bases loaded. I knew that we had to get something going since we had no runs yet. I was just get on top of the ball, get a barrel on it and then it happened.”

                That second game started out with Dawson taking a 1-0 lead and it stayed that way until the bottom of the third. WNCC got three straight singles from Ty Beutner, Garrison Burns, and Vaughn Wilson to load the bases with one out. That was when Alber took the second pitch and sent it over the fence for a grand slam and a 4-1 lead.

                WNCC wasn’t through. Will Harbison and Cooper Wilson recorded singles with two outs and the Payton Denny had a double to score both runs. Denny then came in to score on an Ismael Camara single for the 7-1 lead.

                Dawson came back to score two runs in the fourth to make it 7-3. The Cougars put the came away with five runs in the fifth. That inning started with three free passes to load the bases. Beutner then double in all three runs for a 10-3 lead. WNCC loaded the bases again and Beutner scored on a Catcher Gladysh single. Burns came in to score the 12th run on a sacrifice fly.

                WNCC ended the game in the seventh on the 10-run rule when Austin Cooper walked with two outs and scored on a Harbison double for the 13-3 win.

                WNCC finished with 13 hits with four players getting two hits. Wilson, Harbison, Beutner, and Burns all had two hits. Denny, Beutner, and Burns all scored two runs, while Harbison had two RBIs. Alber had four RBIs in the game.

                Jack McCrea picked up the win, going five innings in allowing three hits, three runs, and striking out four. Scottsbluff’s Jahrell Mendez finished the game, going two innings in not allowing a hit or run while striking out three.

                The first game saw Dawson score first with two runs. WNCC scored one in the bottom of the inning as Gladysh scored Vaughn Wilson with a single.

                Dawson added single runs in the second and third, while WNCC added single runs in the fourth and fifth. The fourth saw Gladysh score on an error. The fifth had Daniel Chavez get a 2-out double and score on a Gladysh single.

                Dawson added two insurance runs in the sixth for the win.

                WNCC finished with eight hits in the contest. Glaydsh led the way with three hits while Ren Sato had two hits.

Game 1

Dawson             211 002 0 – 6 7 2

WNCC                100 110 0 – 3 8 1

LP – Marshall Forsyth.

2B – Daniel Chavez.

Game 2
Dawson             010 200 0 – 3 3 1

WNCC                007 050 1 – 13 13 1

WP – Jack McCrea.

2B – Payton Denny, Ty Beutner, Vaughn Wilson, Will Harbison.

HR – Dakota Alber.