The North Central Missouri College Pirates rode the power of a 4-for-5 game from Enrique Madera in pounding Southwest Illinois Community College 13-3 in Game 1 of a Thursday afternoon doubleheader in Belleville, Illinois.
Madera hammered a game-breaking grand slam in the Pirates 5th inning, as North Central put five runs on the scoreboard. Connor Quick put the Pirates on the board with a sacrifice fly in the first inning, giving the lead to starting pitcher Kylan Easley, who earned the victory with five innings of three run, seven hit baseball, striking out four batters.
In the win, North Central racked up 20 hits, including multi-hit games from Madera, along with Derek Hussey, Curtis Mitchell, Michaelle Collado, Jared Fry, Brendley Martina, Bo McSpadden, and Connor Quick.
Game 2 started well for the visitors, as a Quick RBI single gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st inning. However, starting pitcher Blake Collister struggled, as SWICC got to him with five 2nd inning runs. Collister was done by the fourth inning, finishing with 3 2/3 innings of work, with eight runs allowed, seven hits, and three strikeouts.
Scoring only two runs in a 12-2 loss, the Pirates did pick up nine hits. Austin Satterfield had a run batted in.
With the Pirate baseball team on the road on Thursday, the Lady Pirates softball team finished a brutal stretch of 14 games in seven days, sweeping a doubleheader with the Graceland University JV at Griffin Field. The wins improve NCMC to 25-13 on the season. The softball team is off until a Region XVI road test on Monday afternoon at Crowder College in Neosho, Missouri.
