Baseballers stay alive in World Series

By Jayden Hewitt
Sports Editor

The LCC baseball team avoided elimination yesterday, Monday, May 29. The Stars handily beat Frederick Community College 12-2 after losing 11-1 to South Arkansas Community College the previous day.

This sends LCC into do-or-die mode at the NJCAA Division II World Series.

The win brought the Stars’ overall record to 48-11. Today, Tuesday, May 30, the Stars will look to fight off elimination when they play South Arkansas CC once again. The game will be played at David Allen Ballpark in Enid, Okla.

The game starts at 4:30 p.m. and can be followed on either the NJCAA website, or LCC’s website. The NJCAA website has a streaming option available for purchase to watch live as well.

In the win vs. Frederick CC, pitcher Hunter Shaw earned his ninth victory of the year. Shaw went six innings, allowing just two runs on four hits while striking out five. Pitcher Xander Hall provided two innings of scoreless relief to shut the door.

The LCC offense came alive against Frederick CC, leading to the massive win. The charge was led by home runs from Hunter Lay, Chris Hege and Talon Rowe. Lay, Hege and Shane Juday all had two RBIs each, while Rowe knocked in four runs.

Juday spoke about the difference in approach between the first and second game.

“I honestly don’t think that it was an approach problem,” Juday said. “A lot of things just didn’t go our way and hard hit balls were being caught. We had a couple of mishaps that shot ourselves in the foot and they hurt us more than we thought they would.

“Today (May 29) we just stuck to our approach and trusted the process we’ve had all year and will continue to do so going forward.”

Shaw, the winning pitcher against Frederick, spoke about the team’s energy after both the win and loss, and what the coaches have been preaching.

“The energy after the loss was down,” Shaw said. “But we had a meeting after the loss and got our heads right and looked on for the next game. … The hitting got contagious and the energy was on another level. (It) was a great team win and it was super fun to be a part of.”

Shaw spoke about the team meeting after the initial loss.

“The coaches said, “Shake the last loss off, we are here for a reason,” Shaw said. “We are amongst the best here and we belong here. Yesterday is over with (and now) it’s win or go home.

“We’ve played some of our best baseball with our backs against the wall. We have to take each game as it comes and beat the team right in front of us; don’t worry about anything else.”