LAJUNTA, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College and Otero baseball teams are still tied for fourth as each team captured a win on Thursday in the first day of the 4-game Empire Conference doubleheader in LaJunta, Colorado.
                The first game saw the Cougars lose a heartbreaker as the Rattlers scored five times in the sixth inning to capture a 6-5 win.
                The second contest was a high-scoring contest that saw the Cougars score five times in the 10th inning to get the 17-13 win. The two teams combined for 30 runs and 30 hits in the contest.
                The two teams were slated to play Friday but because of weather conditions down in LaJunta, that doubleheader will now be played Monday, April 21 in LaJunta.
                WNCC and Otero are still tied in the conference at 9-9, but they are just a game out of third place behind Lamar, who is at 10-7. WNCC is 18-21 overall.
                The first game saw Clayden Brandon go five innings and gave up just one run and three hits in his five innings of the work.
                WNCC had things in control through five innings. The Cougars plated two in the second Jin Kobayakawa started the second with a single. With two outs, Cooper Burgess earned a walk. Jase Satterfield followed with a run-scoring single for the run of the game. Tucker Deal plated another run with a double for the 2-0 lead.
                The Cougars plated another run in the fourth as Landon Lockwood scored on a Burgess single to make it 3-0. Otero came back with a run of their own to make it 3-1.
                WNCC made it 5-1 with two in the sixth inning to lead 5-1. Catcher Gladysh started things with a single and then Burgess blasted a 2-run home run. WNCC put two more on, but they were stranded on base.
                Otero followed with a 5-run sixth to take a 6-5 lead as they scored on four hits.
                Each team finished with seven hits. Burgess led the way with two hits including a home run with three RBIs and two runs scored.
                The second contest was a wild one in the scheduled 9-inning contest that went extra innings. WNCC scored in seven of the 10 innings while Otero scored in six of the 10 frames. It was a game where no lead was safe either.
                Otero went up 1-0 to start the game. The Cougars scored three times in the third as they loaded the bases with three walks. Kensei Oikawa scored two with a single and Ren Sato scored another with a single to lead 3-1.
                Otero came back in the bottom of the third with two runs to know things at 3-3. Each team scored three times in the fourth to make it 6-6. WNCC’s three runs came with two outs as Vaughn Wilson had a run-scoring single while Kobayakawa doubled home two runs.
                WNCC retook the lead with a run in the fifth at 7-6 and then led 10-6 with three in the sixth inning. The sixth started when Wilson tripled and scored on a Oikawa single. WNCC added two more runs on a fielder’s choice hit and a fielder’s error.
                The Rattlers came back with two in the sixth to make it 10-8. The Cougars added a run in the eighth to make it 11-8 when Kobayakawa doubled and scored on a Calab Caciari single.
                Otero scored four times in the bottom of the eighth to take a 12-11 lead entering the final inning. WNCC manufactured a couple runs as Burgess led off with a single followed by Will Harbison earning a walk. Pinch-runner Tucker Deal scored on a Matt Levesque sacrifice fly to force extra innings.
                WNCC went to town in the 10th inning, scoring five times. Garrison Burns and Kobayakawa led off with singles. Sato was then intentionally walked to load the bases. Harbison followed with a clutch 2-out single to score two runs to lead 14-12. Austin Cooper then blasted a 3-run home run to left field to lead 17-12.
                Otero could only manage one run in the 10th as WNCC earned the 17-13 win.
                Marshall Forsyth got the pitching win, tossing the final two innings in allowing just one hit and one run.
                WNCC tallied 17 hits in the contest, led by Kobayakawa and Kensei Oikawa with three hits each. Oikawa had three singles with three RBIs and two runs scored while Kobayakawa had two doubles with three runs scored, two RBIs and was walked twice.
                Vaughn Wilson, Calab Caciari, and Burgess each had two hits. Burgess had a double with two RBIs, while Wilson scored three times.
 
Game 1
WNCC                020 102 0 – 5 7 0
Otero                   000 105 x – 6 7 1
LP – Rocco Harmon.
2B – Tucker Deal, Vaughn Wilson.
HR – Cooper Burgess.
 
Game 2
WNCC                003 313 011 5 – 17 17 5
Otero                   102 302 040 1 – 13 13 4
WP – Marshall Forsyth.
2B – Jin Kobayakawa 2, Cooper Burgess.
3B – Vaughn Wilson.
HR – Austin Cooper.