TRINIDAD, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team slammed two grand slams and the Cougars captured an impressive 24-12 win over Trinidad State College in the first game of the best-of-three-series Friday at Trinidad, Colorado, in the first-round of the Region IX baseball tournament.

                The Cougars will need just one win on Saturday to earn a spot in the double-elimination bracket play next weekend in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

                WNCC head coach Mike Jones said his team came ready to play.

                "Offensively it was everyone contributing," Jones said. "The entire lineup had a bunch of really good at bats. We had some really big home runs with a bunch of guys on base. Everybody had excellent at bats and everybody was locked in. It was definitely the offensive potential that we have. It was a great day to put it all together."

                The offense finished with 18 hits and of those 18 hits, Hunter McCollum and Bryce Peterson each had a double while there were four home runs hit, two of which came with the bases juiced from the bats of Dylan Harris and Roangeraud Fraai. The other two home runs came from Peterson and Tyler Easter.

                Fraai led the way offensively with a 4-for-6 day with six RBIs and four runs scored while Easter had three hits with two RBIs and two runs scored along with Harris, who was 3-for-3 with four RBIs and three runs scored. Peterson, Max Adam, and Eli Hernandez each had two hits. Peterson had five RBIs and three runs scored in the win.

                As much as the offense was on, so was the defense as WNCC only allowed two runs in the first four innings where they built the 18-2 lead.

                Jones said it was a good defensive effort as well for the Cougar men.

                "Adrian (Short) did a great job early in the game and we played really good defense behind him," Jones said. "We made some really big pitches and made some really big plays, which we needed to because they had guys in scoring position. If we can continue to pitch well and play good defense and let our offense work, we have a good chance tomorrow."

                WNCC opened the game with three runs in the first as Adam and Shintaro Inoue had singles. Eli Hernandez followed with a single to plate the first run. After Book walked to load the bases, Fraai had a single to plate two runs for the 3-0 lead.

                Trinidad answered with two in the bottom of the first. WNCC opened the game with 15 runs in the third and fourth inning to lead 18-2.

                The third saw seven runs cross home plate. Hernandez walked followed by singles by Fraai and Easter to load the bases for Harris. Harris then took the first pitch and sent the ball over the leftfield fence for a grand slam. WNCC wasn't through. With two outs, Adam walked and Peterson had a 2-run shot to push the lead to 9-2. WNCC wasn't through as Inoue walked and scored on a Hernandez single to make it 10-2.

                WNCC added eight runs in the fourth as Fraai and Easter singled and Harris earned a walk to load the bases. Fraai scored on a passed ball and then Harris would later come in on a Peterson hit that resulted in an error. With he bases juiced with two outs, Fraai hit the second grand slam of the day to make it 18-2.

                WNCC wasn't through scoring as they added four more runs in the top of the fifth to make it 22-2. The fifth started when Harris singled followed by a double by Hunter McCollum. Adam walked to load the bases and Peterson came through with a double to score three runs. Peterson would later score on a passed ball.

                Trinidad would find some offensive magic of their own in the bottom of the fifth when they scored seven times to make it 22-9. WNCC added another two runs in the sixth as Easter had a 2-run home run. Trinidad added three in the sixth to make it 24-12, but that was as close as the Cougars could get.

                Jones said his team has to play smart on Saturday as they just need one to move on. The two squads will be play a doubleheader with the second game of the day the if-necessary contest.

                "Trinidad will be coming and fighting really hard in trying to keep their season alive," Jones said. "It is always tough to go up against somebody that has their backs up against the wall. We have to stay focused and try not to do it all with one swing or pitch. We have to play smart baseball and let the game come to us."

WNCC                   307 842 0 – 24 18 0
Trinidad                200 073 0 – 12 15 2
WP – Adrian Short.
2B – Hunter McCollum, Bryce Peterson.
HR – Roangeraud Fraai, Tyler Easter, Dylan Harris, Bryce Peterson.