Pirates Baseball knocked off another ranked NJCAA DII opponent this weekend, topping #3 Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa 6-3 in the opener of their Sunday doubleheader. The Pirates fell in game two 13-3. The Pirates opened the weekend with a sweep of Hesston College, 1-0 and 12-4, on Saturday which included a combined no-hitter. Overall, NCMC now holds a 9-10 record ahead of Tuesday's road trip to Southeast Community College in Beatrice, NE.
The Pirates got the weekend started off right when winning pitcher Keven Franco (2-1) and relief ace Jay Greco combined to toss a no-hitter. Franco twirled the first 5 innings, striking out 6. Greco relieved and earned his first save of the year. He pitched the final 2 innings, allowing 1 walk and recorded 1 strikeout. The lone run was scored for the Pirates in the 4th inning when Jurden d'Arnault drove in Tanner Sears with a one out single.
The second win for the Pirates against Hesston was marked by offense up and down the lineup and a stellar relief appearance from sophomore Koby Linder (2-1). Linder got out of a jam for starter Dylan Niemeyer in the second inning and finished the game. He recorded 8 strikeouts over 6 innings pitched. Extra base hits for NCMC included a 3-run HR for Tanner Sears, a double and a triple by d'Arnault plus a Braxton Pennington double.
To down the highly ranked NOC-Tonkawa team, the Pirates coupled excellent pitching from Mason Tharp and Greco with a big 5-run third inning to secure victory. Leading the offense was Braedyn Brewer's 2-2 effort with 2 runs scored. Greco got the win in relief, his 4th of the season, pitching 3.1 innings and recording 4 strikeouts while giving up no hits.
Taking the loss on the mound for the Pirates against Tonkawa to close out the weekend was reliever Dustin Gipson. He allowed 4 earned runs over 1.1 innings pitched. The NCMC offense could only muster 3 runs on 5 hits in defeat.
The Pirates have now defeated 3 nationally ranked opponents this season and will look to get above a .500 season record Tuesday.
