MCC baseball drops Saturday doubleheader in New Mexico

LAS VEGAS, N.M. – The McCook Community College baseball team dropped the final two games of the weekend losing to Luna Community College Saturday 7-1 and 10-7.

The Indians were held to five hits in the Game 1 loss to the Rough Riders. MCC held a 5-0 lead through the first four innings of Game 2 but surrendered nine runs in the fifth.

“Obviously didn’t play good today, Game 1 we just took all the adjustments we made yesterday in Game 2and went away from them,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. “Then in Game 2 Myles Chabi gave us a great start but was limited to 35 pitches coming off Tommy John surgery, we threw a good fourth inning but then just imploded in the fifth inning.”

MCC committed three errors in the fifth inning.

“Once again, we didn’t make two simple plays and next thing you know gave up nine runs,” said Olsen. “We gave up one run in the other seven innings and then one bad inning and it’s game over. We have got to keep playing to try and keep getting better.”

Luna improves to 8-16 overall and 3-1 in the Empire League Standings.

MCC falls to 11-14 and 1-3 in the standings.

The Indians will travel to Garden City Tuesday for a 1 p.m. game then return home to begin a split four-game series with Western Nebraska Thursday.

The first two games of the series will be in McCook Thursday starting at 1 p.m. with the final two games in Scottsbluff March 29 at 1 p.m.

For all the latest information about MCC baseball including schedule and schedule changes, livestream links, statistics, rosters, photos and more please visit the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com 

GAME 1 – Luna 7, McCook 1: The Rough Riders scored a run in the first and three in the second off MCC starting pitcher Aviv Bobrov (freshman, Shekhanya, Israel).

Three of the first four hitters in the Luna fourth singled which led to two more runs. Bobrov pitched 3.1 innings and surrendered nine hits and six earned runs on a walk and three strikeouts.

The Indians’ only run came in the fifth on a walk by Nathan Hutchison (sophomore, Riverton, Wyo.) and a two-out double off the bat of sophomore Cory Wouters (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan).

Freshman Colby Kaplan (Parker, Colo.) pitched the final 2.2 innings, allowing one earned run on two hits and two walks.

MCC was held to five hits in the game, two by Hutchison.

GAME 2 – Luna 10, McCook 7: The Indians took a 3-0 first-inning lead on a one-out single by freshman Corbin Lochhead (Vegreville, Alberta) and back-to-back home runs by Cory Wouters and freshman Dalton Berg (Frederick, Colo.).

Freshman Landon McKillip (Lamoni, Iowa) hit a one-out single in the second inning, went to second on a balk and scored on a two-out RBI-single from Wouters. The Indians capitalized on a two-out, two-base Luna error in the third and upped the lead to 5-0 on an RBI-double by Tyler Reyburn (freshman, Frederick, Colo.)

Sophomore Myles Chabi (sophomore Sydney, Australia), marked his return to the pitching rotation with a stellar start, allowing one walk and no hits in three innings. He left after reaching his 35 pitch count limit. As a freshman in 2023 Chabi was an all-Region IX pitcher with a 9-3 record but pitched in just five games before he was shut down with a UCL injury after a game on March 16, 2024.

Freshman Tait Anderson (Auckland, New Zealand) took over in the fourth inning and retired the side in order but ran into trouble in the fifth. Luna hit a leadoff double, then the MCC defense broke down with errors on back-to-back plays followed by a double and another error as the Rough Riders cut the deficit to 5-4. Anderson departed the game after giving up the lead, 6-5, on back-to-back singles. Freshman reliever Elvis Conte (Fort Collins, Colo.) walked the first batter he faced and gave up a three-run home run to the next batter to make it a 9-5 Luna lead.

Freshman Carter Smith (Ottawa, Canada) led off the MCC eighth with a solo home run. After a single by freshman Garrett Bacon (Tulsa, Okla.) and a double by Reyburn, Bacon scored on an infield groundout with McKillip batting to make it a 9-7 Luna lead.

The Rough Riders pushed a final home in the eighth off reliever Jean Duran (sophomore, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic). Duran pitched the final 3.2 innings, allowing three hits, two walks, one earned run and three strikeouts.

MCC outhit Luna 13-8 but committed four errors in the game.

Reyburn had four hits for MCC with Wouters and Smith both having two-hit games.