Pirates Baseball traveled to Missouri Western State University on Saturday to take on Highland Community College in a scrimmage doubleheader. The Pirates came out on the losing end of 4-3 and 7-1 final scores. NCMC will be back in action Tuesday when they travel to Missouri Valley College.
Game one saw the Pirates hold the lead early only to be undone by 4 Highland runs in the 7th inning. "We had many opportunities in the first game to add to our lead but failed to do so. We learned an important lesson; don't let another team hang around in a game when you can put them away or they might come back to beat you," commented assistant coach Ryan Suttenfield. In game two, the Pirates couldn't get much of anything going offensively and scored only one run on five hits.
Leading the offense for the day was again Braedyn Brewer. He continued his impressive fall season going 3-6 with a pair of doubles and two runs scored. He also swiped two bases, increasing his fall total to 12. His .486 fall batting average leads the Pirates.
On the mound, the Pirates got good contributions throughout the staff. "We've really been preaching to our pitchers that they have to throw strikes and limit free bases. Over 16 innings on Saturday, we walked only five batters. That is an encouraging sign," detailed Suttenfield.