April 4, 2011By Jonathan Seib Journal-Advocate sports reporter
STERLING -- It was a couple of rough games for the Plainsmen over the weekend. Hosting Lamar, the Plainsmen faced one lopsided loss and then a close but ultimately fruitless loss in the second game on Saturday.
The weather managed to hold up long enough for the teams to get their games in, and the Lamar Lopes ran away with the first. With the Northeastern Junior College Plainsmen struggling to get their bats around, the Lopes whittled at the lead, picking up runs scattered throughout the contest for the 10-2 win.
The only Plainsmen who had any luck picking up a hit was Alex Schrupp. The sophomore from Parker got ahold of one and sent it out of the park for a two-run home run. It was the only hit that pitcher Arturo Maltos-Garcia gave up. He also walked four and struck out 13 Plainsmen as he pitched the complete game.
The second one was a close 2-0 loss. The Plainsmen had several opportunities to catch up, as the Lopes got the two run lead in the first inning, but the bats did not seem to come around through the final innings, handing NJC another conference loss.
Manny Garduno threw a complete game for the Plainsmen in an impressive performance. After giving up the runs early, on a home run from Pier, Olive-Dostaler -- who went on to get three of the seven hits given up -- ripped through the rest of the batters, keeping his team right in it.
Coach Bryan Shepherd said the team is not in panic mode yet, despite having only one conference win -- they are 1-9 so far in the Empire Conference. He said the key would be for the team to come out tough and win the final two games of the series.
The Plainsmen got a couple of extra days to prepare mentally for that. The Sunday games were postponed until March 29 due to weather.