March 5, 2007

The Northeastern Junior College baseball team moved to 7-3 by sweeping Miles Community College in a doubleheader on Monday. The two wins gave the Plainsmen three victories in the four-game, home series against Miles.

The Plainsmen took control of both games with aggressive base running. NJC team stole 10-of-12 bags on the day.

"When we can get guys on base we have the speed to wreak havoc on the base paths," NJC Head Coach Bryan Shepherd said. "Both final scores were dictated by what we did on the bases."

NJC took the first game, 8-0. Freshman Ty Cardona and sophomore Jesus Colon combined to hurl the shutout. The duo surrendered just three hits in the game. Cardona started the game and improved to 2-0 on the season.

Center fielder Josh Warren of Laramie, Wyo., led NJC at the plate with a 3-for-3 performance. Warren stole two bases and scored three runs to jumpstart the NJC offense.

Sterling sophomore Jeff Squier stole two bases, knocked in a run and scored once. The third-baseman reached twice on the strength of a single and a hit-by-pitch.

"We came out flat yesterday" Squier said of NJC's split with Miles in Games One and Two of the series. "Today we came back with the mindset we can beat these guys, and we played with a lot more intensity. Three out of four at home good is pretty good after losing the first game of the series. We have a good feeling going into conference play with the two wins today."

The Plainsmen won the second game, 9-2, to complete the sweep. Arvin Perez picked up his second win of the season, throwing five complete. Sophomore Aaron Howe came on in relief of Perez to put Miles away.

Perez, the native of Ponce, Puerto Rico; struck out seven and surrendered just two hits.

"For the second time in as many starts, Arvin came out and came after people and just threw strikes," Shepherd said. "The result of both games is that we've kept opposing base runners to a minimum to allow us to get the job done."

Freshman Rhett Welsh scored a run, knocked in a run and stole two bases.

Loveland freshman Danny Brock was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a run scored.

NJC opens conference play at home on Friday at 12 p.m. against Otero.