WNC Baseball: Wildcats Grind Out Comeback Wins Over Third-Ranked Cochise
Submitted by editor on Sat, 02/07/2015 - 8:02pm
In a preseason survey of National Junior College Association baseball programs, the Cochise Apaches were the choice to win their third straight Western District title.
However, the third-ranked Apaches have learned over the past two days that a third straight title won't come easily. The Western Nevada College Wildcats of Carson City fought back with their third straight comeback win over the Apaches, sweeping a doubleheader on Saturday in Henderson.
Unranked WNC (6-1) rallied from two runs down to win the opener, 4-2, then completed the sweep by coming back from a late three-run deficit to win the second game, 6-5, in 10 innings.
"Never say die. Grind for nine ... that is what coach Demo (Aaron Demosthenes) always says," said WNC coach D.J. Whittemore said.
The two teams will collide at noon Sunday to conclude their four-game non conference. It was a battle of southpaws in the opener, and WNC freshman Matt Young was just a little bit better than Cochise sophomore Kade Wagner.
Young fired six scoreless innings to throw a complete game after looking like he might make a first-inning exit. In the first frame, the Apaches (4-3) took a 1-0 lead and had Young on the ropes with the bases loaded and no outs.
"That's almost unheard of and a testament to his competitiveness," said Whittemore, also crediting the game called by sophomore catcher Brandon Lapointe.
Young only allowed three hits and struck out four to pick up his second win of the young season. Young, however, paid for back-to-back walks to open the game. After issuing free passes to Louis Boyd and Adam Delacruz, Dan Hetzel laced a run-scoring single and Charlie Ameer knocked in the second run on a fielder's choice.
In the second inning, Corey Pool's one-out RBI single scored Tim Lichty to cut the Wildcats' deficit in half. Bradley Lewis also singled during the rally.
Boyd doubled after two were out in the fifth inning, but Young retired Delacruz on a fly out. Nick Borowski's single in the second inning was the only other hit off Young. Wagner limited the Wildcats to two hits and fanned seven through five innings. But the Wildcats erupted for three runs off Wagner in the sixth.
Jake Bennett, who had a clutch triple in the Wildcats' comeback win on Friday night, started the sixth with a base hit. He moved to second on a Wagner balk and advanced to third on a groundout. After Lichty was hit by a pitch with two outs, Brogan Secrist lined a game-tying single that scored Bennett.
Secrist returned home to Utah after Friday night's game to have a MRI on his elbow. He was back at the field Saturday morning ready to play and contributed in a big way in a reserve role. With pinch-runner Cody Kerns at third base and Secrist at first, Lewis pounced on a Wagner offering, delivering a two-run double to give the Wildcats their first lead, 4-2.
That was more than enough support for Young, who retired the Apaches 1-2-3 in the seventh.
Lewis finished 2 for 3 with two RBI.
In game two, the Wildcats fell behind the Apaches, 2-0 and 5-2, but rallied in the final three innings.
David Modler's double scored pinch-runner Secrist with one out in the ninth inning to tie the score at 5. However, Modler was tagged out at third base after a precise relay throw, and Bennett lined out to short to bring forth extra play.
The Wildcats pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Lichty led off with a single to center field and his courtesy runner, Young, came around to score when Peters singled to right field and first baseman Borowski made an errant throw while Peters was hung up between first and second bases.
Cochise scored twice in the first inning against Wildcat starter Cody Kerns. Jackson Overlund connected for a run-scoring double to left and Borowski knocked in a run with an infield hit.
The Wildcats answered with two runs of their own in the fourth. An RBI double by Kody Reynolds plated Young and Jon Guzman's fielder's choice scored Peters.
The Apaches built a 5-2 lead by scoring single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. But the Wildcats rallied in the eighth. Austin Andrews and Bennett sandwiched base hits around a walk to Modler. Lichty's base hit scored Andrews, and an infielder error brought home Modler to make the score 5-4.
Thomas Kerr, the Wildcats' third hurler, picked up the win with four innings of two-hit relief. Kerr struck out three and gave up an unearned run.
"Last week was a little bit of bad luck for him, but he had a really good week of work and came up big for us today," Whittemore said.
Andrews led the Wildcats with a pair of hits and two runs scored.
