The North Central Missouri College baseball team got its season off to a solid start on Saturday in Pittsburg, KS, picking up a pair of 4-1 victories, the first over Cloud County Community College and the second over Fort Scott Community College.
vs. Cloud County
The first game of the season saw the Pirates plate two runs in the first inning and two runs in the seventh and that was plenty as Zach Cross turned in a gem on the hill. The Pirates’ ace threw a seven-inning complete game, allowing one run on two hits and two walks while striking out four in the victory. Cross (1-0) carried a no-hitter into the seventh before giving up his first hit. He needed just 82 pitches to navigate the seven frames.
At the plate, the Pirates got things going early. Stephan Vidal drove a two-out double to centerfield in the first inning to score James Brownsberger who walked earlier in the inning. Vidal then scored when Landon Figg singled to center on a hard-ground ball.
That would be all the scoring until the seventh, when the Pirates plated two more on RBIs by Smith Kemper and Turner Herbek. Vidal paced the offense going three-for-four in the game with the RBI and run scored. Figg and AJ Salinas both had multi-hit games as well with two each.
vs. Fort Scott
It took a bit longer for the Pirates to get their offense in game two, but a sixth-inning rally broke a 1-1 tie and gave the Pirates their second 4-1 win of the day.
NCMC fell behind 1-0 in the fourth, but answered with a run in the top of the fifth. Jordan Bardwell stole third base, then scored after the Fort Scott third baseman committed an error on the play. That opened the gates for the Pirates’ offense, which pushed across three more runs the following inning. With two outs in the sixth, Figg belted a line-drive, solo home run to right field to break the tie. Kemper followed with a walk and then scored on an RBI single by Jared Corbett. Corbett advanced to second on a throw home by Fort Scott trying to get Kemper. Herbek then singled to center scoring Corbett and completing the three-run inning.
Figg’s homer was the only extra-base hit the Pirates had, but they did collect 10 hits in the game. Corbett, Herbek, Salinas and Vidal all had two hits each in the win.
On the hill, Nolberto Rondon (1-0) was impressive, going six and two-thirds innings, allowing one unearned run on three hits and a walk while striking out eight. Wes Davis threw the final one-third of an inning to earn his first save of the season.
The Pirates are now 2-0 on the season. North Central has a bit of a layoff now until their next action, which takes place on Tuesday, March 3. NCMC will travel to Chanute, KS to take on Neosho County Community College in a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
