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MNB squeaks out two at Colby
COLBY, Kan. -- The McCook National Bank American Legion Seniors were finally rewarded with two wins as they continued to play with confidence Wednesday night at Colby.
The Seniors defeated Colby 7-6 and squeaked by Goodland 9-7.
In the first game of the night, MNB exploded in the top of the sixth inning by scoring four of their seven runs.
The McCook Seniors finally got Matt Augustine's timing down after he had not allowed anyone on base during the first two innings.
"We faced a pretty good pitcher. We took what we could get until the sixth inning. Finally in the sixth, Jared Muehlenkamp had a big hit and things just snowballed from there," head coach Justin Wacker said.
Augustine's knuckleball was throwing some of the players off balance at the plate, but Wacker said it was just like any other off-speed pitch.
"We have to recognize it out of the hand, keep our weight back, and not try to do too much with it, and we will be alright," he said.
Phil Hayes threw a complete game on the mound as he made his return to the Seniors team after being in Europe. Hayes struck out five in the outing.
"Phil did a great job, especially for being away from the game for about four weeks. He was around the zone, and I couldn't ask for a better start from him," Wacker said.
Defensively MNB did not look as sharp as they had over the weekend.
"We had our errors early. I think we had about one every inning there for awhile. At the end, we shored things up and played defense when we had to," Wacker said.
In the final game of the night, the American Legion Seniors squared off with Goodland.
The MNB Seniors jumped out to an early five-inning lead after two innings of play, but Goodland kept hanging around.
"Those games can get pretty scary. When you get up on a team and feel like you will bury them, and they start coming back the intensity level is lost," Wacker said.
The score was tied 7-7 going into the seventh. McCook walked four times leading to a two-run spurt, which was enough to win the game. Al Shiers started the game, and Alex Sughroue came in relief.
According to Wacker, both had some positives and negatives.
"Al struggled, but pitched a couple solid innings. Sughroue came in during a tough situation and got out with minimal damage. He got into jams with walks and bleeders, but shut Goodland down in the seventh," Wacker said.
McCook National hit the ball hard, but had a hard time finding places for the ball to land.
"We hit the ball hard, but we only scored twice with bases loaded and no outs. We need to take advantage of those scoring opportunities when we get them," Wacker said.
The next action for the MNB Seniors (8-15) will take place when they travel to Beatrice on Friday for a 5:30 p.m. doubleheader.
"We will have to be clicking on all aspects of the game against Beatrice. As we found out in Gretna, we can play with them when we play good defense," Wacker said.
Saturday, the Seniors will be in Nebraska City for games with Syracuse and Nebraska City.