It was a big weekend for Pirates Baseball. NCMC split a road series with the NJCAA DII 4th ranked team, Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa, moving their overall record to 9-11 ahead of a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. Tonkawa, a team the Pirates are likely to see in postseason play, had a 17-2 record before the Pirates doubled their 2020 season defeats. The Mavericks are a perennial power in NJCAA Division II, the level the Pirates have moved to this season following twelve seasons competing at Division I.
NCMC opened the weekend with a resounding 13-3 victory. After taking a pair of defeats 8-4 and 11-7 in the middle of the series, the Pirates capped the weekend with a come from behind victory in the finale, winning by the score of 19-9. In that game, the Pirates offense put together a 13-run sixth inning which sealed the win.
"Our offense really hit its stride this weekend, against quality pitching from the Mavericks," commented assistant coach Ryan Suttenfield. Having and especially good weekend was Logan Eickhoff, batting .533. He also added 5 runs scored and 7 RBIs, plus 3 triples. Nathaniel Bentura got hot as well, going 7-15 with a home run and 9 RBIs. 5 of his 7 hits were for extra bases in the series. As a team, NCMC knocked 17 extra base hits in the 4 game span.
Alexander Lovin continued his strong spring on the mound for the Pirates. He pitched 5 innings in the opening victory, allowing 0 earned runs and striking out 5. Gregoor Moesker got the win in the last game, tossing 1 inning of relief.
"We know that Tonkawa will likely stand in our way if we want to advance to the NJCAA DII World Series. In the postseason, we will compete against the Oklahoma schools in their region tournament with that berth on the line. Our players should now understand that they have all it takes to reach that goal; we just have to continue to improve as we have done so far this season," concluded Suttenfield.
The Pirates will play seven games on their trip south. After that, it will be the NCMC home opener on Saturday, March 21st with a 1:00pm first pitch. They will be taking on Park University JV in a single 9-inning game.
