Plainsmen Victorious Over McCook

Plainsmen Victorious Over McCook

Apr. 16, 2019, Sterling, Colo. — The Plainsmen baseball team was sitting in the top spot in Region IX prior to playing at McCook. They narrowly edged out the Lamar Lopes and Trinidad State Trojans by having one more win on their record. Winning three over McCook would retain that pole position, but by going 2-1 on the series made them drop back one spot to the Trojans. 

In their first game on Sunday, the Plainsmen had everything working, winning big over the Indians 9-1. Northeastern jumped out to an early 6-0 lead before McCook broke the ice in the bottom of two. Northeastern held McCook to their one point throughout the entirety of the game and went on to win 9-1. Jonah Coleman led the Plainsmen to victory on the hill. He surrendered one run on three hits over four innings, striking out four and walking zero. Jacob Baasch, Gunnar Foegen, and Cregan McCulloch all put in work in relief out of the bullpen, steering their team towards the victory. 

The second and third games of the series took place as a doubleheader on Monday, and both games were much closer than the first. In the first game of the day, Northeastern was able to nab the lead late in the game to win 9-8. Northeastern fell behind early to McCook and trailed 5-2 in the bottom of the third. The score remained the same until the top of seven when Northeastern went on a roll. The Plainsmen scored seven runs with Sean Kelsen scoring three on a single. Despite battling back to score three runs, Northeastern held on and won 9-8. Tanner Schoeninger started the game and last two innings, allowing four hits and four runs while striking out one. Cameron Phillips earned the victory on the hill for Northeastern. He lasted two-thirds of an inning, allowing zero hits and zero runs while striking out one and walking zero. Cameron Spaeth recorded the last two outs to earn the save. 

In the second game of the day and the final game of the series, Northeastern suffered a heartbreaking loss as they lost the lead late in a 3-2 defeat. Northeastern led 2-0 in the second inning and held that lead until the bottom of the sixth when McCook scored three runs, two of which came from a home run. That homer stung and the Plainsmen could not get the runs needed to overtake the Indians and lost 3-2. Cole Halpin started the game for the Plainsmen as he surrendered three runs on three hits over five and two-thirds innings, striking out six. Jayden Smith threw one-third of an inning in relief. 

That one loss dropped the Plainsmen to second place behind Trinidad State. Northeastern will get a chance at regaining the top spot this weekend as they host Lamar for three games beginning on Friday at 5 p.m.