Feb. 26, 2008

By Anthony Arroyo Journal-Advocate sports reporter

DODGE CITY, Kan. -- After picking up an impressive four-game sweep against No. 25 Seward County Community College, the Northeastern Junior College Plainsmen baseball team earned a split against Dodge City Community College over the weekend.

Saturday's games were postponed due to rain and were moved to Sunday and Monday. Sunday afternoon, NJC took the first game, 7-2, before dropping the second of two games, 12-8.

Monday, both games needed extra innings to determine a winner. The first game saw Northeastern fall 2-1 in eight innings, while the team bounced back to earn an 8-7 victory in nine innings in the following contest. Including games with Seward on Friday, NJC had just one day of school last week.

"I felt I really saw the team grow in Seward," NJC head baseball coach Bryan Shepherd said of Seward, his alma mater. "Seward is usually always in the top 20, and for us to go there and take four says a lot about what we have going for us." With the split in Dodge City, Northeastern is now 8-4 overall after a road swing going 6-2.

"We started off great with the opening win, but defensive errors hurt us in the games we lost," Shepherd said. "We're still swinging the bats very well and our pitching staff is doing a good job."

Through 12 games, the Plainsmen are hitting .325, which places them in the Top 20 in the nation. Additional credit is deserved when most of the nation is using aluminum bats, while the Region IX Conference uses wood bats.

Unearned runs were the big story over the weekend in Dodge City. Northeastern gave up six unearned in the 12-8 defeat on Sunday, and gave up four more unearned in the 8-7 victory on Monday. Still, NJC finds ways to battle back.

"We're playing through mistakes and we find ways to win games," Shepherd said. "Once we start to fix some of those defensive mistakes, we should be in really good shape."

Next up for the Plainsmen is a doubleheader on the road with Trinidad State Junior College Friday, Feb. 29. The game opens conference play and should be display a battle of two respectable teams.

First game begins at 12:30 p.m., with the following game set for around 3 p.m.