NCMC baseball opened Region 16 play over the weekend in superb fashion by sweeping the defending champion East Central College 11-0, 10-0 and 11-2. The Pirates sit atop the Region 16 standings with an undefeated 3-0 mark and are 17-4 overall heading into a home game Tuesday with Kansas City Kansas CC.
The star of the opening game was freshman pitcher Luis Leon. He tossed a no-hitter and surrendered just 3 walks to the host Falcons. He totaled 4 strikeouts and improved his season ERA to 2.61. Pacing the offense was leadoff man Javier Suarez who went 3-4 with 2 runs scored and an RBI. Blasting homers were Shodai Nishihara and Strader Richardson. In total, the Pirates pounded out 11 hits in 5 innings.
Game two of the series was more of the same. NCMC got an excellent pitching performance from Hikaru Mikami (6 IP, 0 runs, 2 hits, 6 Ks). He improved his record to 4-0 overall with an ERA of 3.55. Offensively, Truman Bodenhausen provided a spark from the 9-hole by going 3-4 with a double and a triple, scoring 2 runs. Long balls came from Chase Maddox and Jordi Ventura. NCMC displayed their deep lineup with all starters getting at least 1 hit and the team totaling 16 hits in the game.
On Sunday, pitchers Eric Torrero (5 IP, 2 runs, 5 Ks) and Max Wagers (2 IP, 0 runs, 2 Ks) plus steady defense kept the Falcons held down. For NCMC with the bats, Ventura yet again had an outstanding performance. He went 2-4 with another homer and 5 RBIs. Julio Guerrero got involved going 1-2 with 2 runs scored and 2 hit by pitch. Alexandro Paz, Luis Rivas and Maddox all chipped in with doubles.
Following the opening weekend of Region 16 play, current standings are as follows.
- North Central Missouri College 3-0
- Moberly Area Community College 2-1
- Hesston College 1-2
- East Central College 0-3