On Saturday afternoon, New Mexico Military completed the sweep over Western Nebraska with a 8-4 win in game three before taking down the Cougars 20-11 to close out the series. With the pair of wins the Broncos move to 6-2 on the year. With the losses, Western Nebraska opens their season with a 0-4 record.
GAME 1
The Broncos opened the afternoon with a trio of singles. First, Joek Rivera singled to get on base. Missael Maldonado Baez followed that up with a single of his own to get two runners on base. Joek Rivera scored on a passed ball to take a 1-0 lead. With two runners on base, Eliseo Ramirez recorded an RBI-single to put the Broncos ahead by two runs. Wonjae Cho followed with another RBI-single to give NMMI a quick 3-0 advantage.
However, Western Nebraska responded immediately with a trio of runs in the top of the second inning to knot the game at 3-3. In the bottom half of the third inning, Eliseo Ramirez picked up a single to get on base. In the next at-bat Wonjae Cho smashed his first homer of the season to give the Broncos a 5-3 lead.
Jose Rodriguez Mestre opened the bottom of the fourth inning with a leadoff double to get into scoring position. Following a ground out, Missael Maldonado Baez recorded an RBI-single to give the Broncos a 6-3 advantage. In the top of the sixth inning, Western Nebraska scored a run with a sacrifice fly out by Catcher Gladysh to get a run back.
After a strikeout to open the bottom half of the sixth inning, Jose Rodriguez Mestre tallied his first triple of the season. In the next at-bat Joek Rivera picked up an RBI-double to score a run for the Broncos. Rodriguez Mestre later scored with the help of a passed ball to secure the 8-4 win for NMMI.
GAME 2
Damwoo Kim opened the final game with a double to center field. Joek Rivera followed that up with a walk before Kylian Bamberger recorded an RBI single to give the Broncos their first lead of the game. With one out, Javier Yepiz recorded an RBI on a ground out to give NMMI a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second inning, with two outs, Alec Guevara tallied his first homer of the season to give the home team a 3-0 advantage. After an RBI single by Joek Rivera, Kylian Bamberger blasted one over the right field fence to record a two-run shot and put the Broncos in front 6-0. With two runners on base, Seung Min Shin tallied his third homer of the series and a two-RBI blast to give NMMI a dominant 10-0 advantage.
After an out and a single by Damwoo Kim, Kim scored with the help of an error by the Western Nebraska pitcher. Up by 11 runs, the Broncos took a 12-0 lead with an RBI- ground out by Kylian Bamberger.
In the home half of the fourth inning, the Broncos scored a trio of runs as they enjoyed a 17-0 lead. However, Western Nebraska extended the game as they scored eight runs in the top of the fifth inning to make it a 17-8 ball game. In the top of the sixth inning, the Cougars scored another run. Once again, Western Nebraska scored in the top of the seventh inning with a two-run homer by Jack Sughrouse as the visitors trailed 17-11.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Broncos scored a trio of runs to secure the 20-11 run-rule win to sweep the Cougars over the weekend.
Head Coach Chris Cook on the series sweep, "Overall, it was a good weekend. I just didn't want to finish a good weekend like we finished. I give Western Nebraska credit, but still, we have to be better in those situations," Cook said. "A four-game sweep is hard to do at any point in a season, but we'll learn from the last part of game four … and I expect for us to get back after it next Saturday when we host Trinidad," Cook said.
UP NEXT
The Broncos return to action on Saturday, February 14 when they host Trinidad State College for a four-game series at the NMMI Ballpark starting at noon.