Wouters’ 3-homer game powers MCC sweep

PUEBLO, Colo. – Sophomore Cory Wouters’ three-homer game at the plate and 10-strikeout game on the mound fueled his team’s first wins of the season. McCook Community College swept Bismarck State College 14-4 and 15-5, both games ended early on the 10-run rule.

Wouters (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) is the reigning Region IX freshman of the year, went three-for-four in Game 1 with two doubles and went four-for-four in Game 2 with three homers and in his first start on the mound this year, struck out 10 hitters in four innings.

He finished the day with seven hits in eight at bats with three home runs, two doubles, five runs scored and eight RBIs. He also started Game 2 and didn’t allow a hit or an earned run over four innings and struck out 10 hitters to pick up the win.

“Cory Wouters had an unbelievable second game. It’s one of the better games I’ve been around,” said MCC Coach Jon Olsen. “We did some nice things offensively, had some guys get it going a bit.”

These games were scheduled to be the home-opener for MCC but because of this week’s snow, the games were moved to Runyon Field Sports Complex in Pueblo, Colo.

“It was good to get a couple wins,” said Olsen. “It was a beautiful day to play so it was worth the adjusting the schedule for sure.”

MCC improves to 2-5 and these two teams will play two more games Sunday starting at 1 p.m.

These were the first games of the year for the North Dakota squad, a team that posted a 30-win season last year.

Up-to-date information about MCC baseball including livestream links, schedule, statistics, rosters, photos and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com 

GAME 1 – McCook 14, Bismarck State College 4: The Indians took an early lead in the first with a leadoff single by Nathan Hutchison (sophomore, Riverton, Wyo.), a Mystic error and a two-out single from freshman Dalton Berg (Frederick, Colo.).

BSC took a 3-1 lead in the top of the second of Indian starter Leif Friedrich (sophomore, Surrey, British Columbia) with a walk and three hits. MCC responded in the bottom of the frame with a run on a leadoff walk by Hutchison and an RBI-double by Cory Wouters.

MCC broke open the game in the third with seven runs, keyed by a two-out double by freshman Ben Heathcock (Little Elm, Texas), an RBI-single by freshman Landon McKillip (Lamoni, Iowa) to tie the game at 3-3; a two-run single by Wouters, two straight hit batters with the bases loaded, and a two-run single by sophomore Owen Glover (sophomore, Elderslie, New South Wales) to give the Indians a 9-3 lead.

Friedrich went four innings and later picked up the win, allowing the three earned runs on three walks, five hits and five strikeouts.

“I didn’t think Leif didn’t had the same stuff as in his first two starts but he did a really nice job of battling through,” said Olsen.

The Mystics struck for a pair of two-out hits in the fifth off reliever Jean Duran (sophomore, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) to make it a 9-4 game.

Wouters delivered a two-run double in the bottom of the fifth then with two outs in the sixth inning, McKillip and Hutchison singled and sophomore Maddox Shaver (sophomore Belleville, Ontario) ended the game on the 10-run rule with a two-run double.

Duran pitched the final two innings, allowing one run on three hits, no walks and three strikeouts and the Indians played errorless ball in the field.

MCC outhit MSC 15-6 getting a three-hit game from Wouters, and two hits each by Hutchison, Shaver, Berg, Glover, Heath and McKillip.

GAME 2 – McCook CC 15, Bismarck State 5: The Indians started the second game with the first five batters reaching via walks and hit by pitches to take a 2-0 lead. Owen Glover hit a bases-loaded double to score two more and freshman Connor Charvat (Elkhorn South) popped a three-run home run to give MCC a 7-0 lead.

Cory Wouters got his mound start and shut the Mystics down through the first two innings then put MCC up 8-0 with a solo home run to lead off the MCC second.

Bismarck State got on the scoreboard in the third on a two-base MCC error, a walk, and two passed balls to make it an 8-1 game. In the bottom of the inning, MCC got two runs back on an error, and a two-out two-run home run by Wouters to give the Indians a 10-1 lead.

With two outs in the MCC fourth, Charvat doubled then scored on a single by freshman Tyler Reyburn (Frederick, Colo.) for an 11-1 lead.

Wouters went four innings on the mound allowed no hits and no earned runs with four walks and 10 strikeouts. Freshman Landen Zehr (Kitchener, Ontario) relieved in the fifth and allowed three runs, but only one earned on two hits and a strikeout in his inning of relief. Freshman Colby Kaplan (Parker, Colo.) pitched the sixth and allowed one hit, one walk, one earned run and one strikeout in his inning.

“I thought both Jean Duran in the first game and then Landon Zehr in his first outing of year Game 2 was good, all his runs were unearned and Kaplin had another pretty good outing,” said Olsen.

Reyburn led off the MCC sixth with a home run to make it a 13-5 game then with two outs and a runner on, Wouters launched his third home run of the game – to right field to end the game on the 10-4 run rule.

MCC committed four errors in the game.

“Defensively in Game 2 we needed to be better, that was a little frustrating,” said Olsen.

The Indians out-hit BSC 12-3. In addition to Wouter’s four-for-four game with four runs scored and five driven in, MCC had two hit games from Glover, Charvat and Reyburn.