NCMC baseball won three of four games in their home opening series over the weekend with Dakota County Technical College to improve their season record to 10-17. Final scores for the games were a 7-2 loss and wins of 8-1, 6-4 and 2-1. Next up will be a single 9-inning home game on Thursday against Southeast Community College. Games against Southeast were originally scheduled for Wednesday but have been pushed back due to forecasted rain.
Top of the order hitters Noah Bodenhausen and Layne Rutherford did their job in the series, each collecting 5 hits and scoring a combined 9 runs. Bailey Quint drove in a team high 6 runs in the series and Jesus Fonseca had the walk off RBI single for the Pirates win in the final contest.
NCMC pitching had a stellar weekend. As a team, the Pirates struck out 45 Dakota County batters over 28 innings pitched. Pitchers also limited walks (19) to the Blue Knights which had been an Achilles heel for the staff. Earning wins were freshmen Evan Johnston (1-0), Nathan Fine (1-3) and Kyle Stratman (2-1), all in relief appearances. Sophomore Avery Rivero notched his 2nd save of the season.
NCMC's defense did commit 8 errors in the series plus allowed 9 stolen bases, numbers the team will look to improve as they move into the second half of the season.
