On Saturday afternoon, New Mexico Military Institute improved to 5-3, taking both games of Saturday's doubleheader. With the series split, The Broncos took game one 8-0 and followed it up in game two with a 13-4 win. Taking two from the Broncos on Friday, Western Nebraska opens the year with a 2-2 record.
Game 1
The action really got started in the bottom of the third inning after Jose Rodriguez Mestre reached base after being walked. An out later, Mestre reached home plate on a passed ball to give the Broncos the initial 1-0 lead.
In the fifth inning the Broncos caught a break as they reached base on back-to-back errors by the Cougars defense. With no outs and two on, Mestre made his presence felt again with a two-RBI double to center field to clear the bags. A pitch later, Joek Rivera Colon belted one over the left-field fence to give the Broncos a 5-0 lead.
Adding some insurance in the home half of the sixth inning, NMMI opened the frame with a back-to-back singles by Seojun Oh and Baez. In the second pitch of the at-bat, Yahir Fonseca Ortiz notched his second homer of the year as he put the Broncos in the driver's seat, 8-0.
Picking up his second win of the season, Hyunwook Lee pitched for 6.0 innings, striking up seven batters in the process while allowing 4 hits. Completing the shut-out for NMMI in the seventh, Wonjae Cho was able to strikeout the final batter to secure the 8-0 win.
Game 2
After a three-up, three-down to open the game the Bronocs continued their momentum from game one. Rivera Colon started the party with a single just past the reach of the second basemen. With the next pitch, Shin was able to record his first triple of the season and help NMMI take a quick 1-0 lead.
After scoring another run with a passed ball, Sang Woon Jeon sent one to mars as he tallied his first homer of the year to put the Broncos ahead 4-0 after one inning.
Three outs later, Hunter Martin blasted his first collegiate homer to left field as NMMI was ahead 5-0. After a double by Rivera Colon, Shin picked up his third RBI of the season with a line drive single to right field. Standing on second base, Shin crossed the plate after Jeon recorded a double. In the next at-bat, Fonseca Ortiz blew the lead open 8-0 with another RBI-double. In the bottom of the fourth, the lead extended to nine after Jeon rocketed the third pitch he saw over the center-field wall.
In the away half of the fifth inning, Western Nebraska was able to respond with a 3-shot homer by Vaughn Wilson as the lead was cut to 9-3. The Broncos were able to respond with a pair of runs in the home half after Ovier Alvidrez picked up an RBI-single. He later crossed home plate with a RBI sac ground out by Jeremiah Burrola, as NMMI took an 11-3 lead.
After Ross Stokes singled to open the final inning, Hunter Martin called game with his second homer of the game as he put NMMI ahead 13-4 – enough to pick up the win after seven innings.
Picking up their first shutout win of the year, Head Coach Chris Cook was pleased with the night and day performance between the two days, "Overall much better performance than yesterday and on the mound, this is now back-to-back weeks where Lee has looked outstanding out there, he located his breaking ball and kept them off balance," Cook said. After scoring nine runs yesterday, "We hit well enough to get two wins today, which is positive because we didn't do it yesterday."
After having next weekend off, the Broncos will return to the diamond on Saturday, Feb. 22 as they host Otero College for a pair of doubleheaders over the weekend. First pitch is scheduled for noon both Saturday and Sunday at the NMMI Ballpark.