#2 Ranked Thunderbirds hit hard in doubleheader
The young MCC pitching staff was hit hard in the doubleheader sweep against Yavapai College on March 9, dropping the first game 5-3 and the second game 14-3.
But it wasn’t just pitching that hurt the Thunderbirds, the defense collected three errors in the first game and one in the second.
Infielder Kasey Watts said the errors in the games were not only disappointing in the outcome but could have become vital in deciding the outcome.
“ We just had a lot of errors in the field that cost us,” said Watts. “They had only three hits total the whole game, and they managed to get five runs off of our errors. And you know, that’s potentially why they won the ballgame. So, yeah, definitely, there was disappointment.”
The Thunderbird offense had trouble finding their legs at first, drawing their first runs in the 6th inning of sophomore catcher Zach Wagner’s 2 out r.b.i. single.
Their third and final run of the game came on a fielder’s choice, MCC got the bases loaded with one out, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat and the game.
But things only got uglier for the Thunderbirds in game 2, as Yavapai began to tack on run after run on freshman starter Mike Marshall.
Back to back home runs by Yavapai in the 4th inning and a grand slam in the 5th made it 8-1 and pulled Marshall out of the game.
Head baseball coach Tony Cirelli said that his young pitching staff is still developing through this long baseball season and that pitching is only half of the issue that MCC has to handle.
“Well, we’re kind of developing kids as we go,” said Cirelli. “ And that’s another issue. You know, some days we play really well, we just got to put it together, we got to pitch we got to hit we got to play defense the same day.”
Yavapai only added to their total putting up four runs in the 6th inning and another in the 7th inning leading to a 14-3 victory over MCC.
The Thunderbirds have been on a cold streak as of late, dropping 5 out of their last 6 after starting their year 8-0.
Infielder Kasey Watts said that this cold streak might be a blessing in disguise and is excited to see what kind of team they’ll be in the next few games.
“We know we can be a great team,” said Watts. “And, you know, to prove that we got to prove ourselves and we get in a cold streak, we lose a couple in a row, how are we going to retaliate to that? How are we going to bounce back? And I think our mindset is, you know, in the same mindset is the first type of game you know, we’re, we’re here to win.”
The Thunderbirds will try to end their cold streak in a doubleheader against GateWay Community College on Saturday afternoon.
Editor’s note: The original story date is March 12. Due to newspaper and college-wide technical difficulties, this story is now made available on April 16.
