WNC Baseball: Wildcats pepper Mount Hood for 28 hits

Oregonian Jordan Ragan said he didn't have any extra motivation facing an Oregon team on Saturday. Ragan turned in his season-best performance to date by hurling four perfect innings in the Western Nevada College's 10-2 baseball victory over Mount Hood Community College of Gresham, Ore., at John L. Harvey Field in Carson City.

The freshman from Medford, Ore., was backed by a 14-hit attack - a feat the Wildcats repeated in a 9-5 come-from-behind victory in Game 2.

There have been two no-hitters in the history of WNC's program: Christian Stolo threw one against Colorado Northwestern in 2013 and Kramer Champlin recorded the program's first hitless complete game in 2009. Ragan said he couldn't help but think about throwing a no-hitter himself.

"You always think about it, but you still have to go out there and pitch," Ragan said. "I knew the fifth inning would be hard because I had the middle of their lineup coming up."

Ragan (1-1) lost his perfect game in the fifth and left after throwing a two-hitter over 5 2/3 innings. The left-hander walked two and struck out one.

"It's only his fourth start in college, and it was pretty good," said WNC coach D.J. Whittemore. "Jordan came to us pretty polished. He hasn't needed to change much, just fine-tune everything because you have to get college hitters out. Probably the No. 1 thing he hasn't been able to do is get groundball outs the way he needs to and pitching down in the strike zone, that's what he's been working on.

"He and (catcher Tim) Lichty did a nice job and they let the defense work, and the defense made some nice play for them."

Building on their Game 2 victory on Friday, the middle of WNC's batting order supplied nine of the 14 hits and knocked in five runs. Bradley Lewis led the way with three hits, while Lichty and Justin Mannens provided two hits and two RBI.

Cleanup hitter DJ Peters triggered the Wildcats' rally in Game 2, launching a mammoth three-run homer over the center-field fence. The top six hitters in WNC's lineup had at least two hits, with Lichty leading the way with two doubles and a single. Eight of WNC's hits went for extra bases.

In the opener, WNC didn't waste any time jumping on Mount Hood starting pitcher Cameron Jack. Surging Lichty blasted a run-scoring double and Lewis contributed a run-scoring single in the Wildcats' two-run first.

"We put a lot of pressure on them," Whittemore said. "That's been our trademark this year and it's been our trademark in the past: make guys work to get you out. Today, we battled and fouled a few pitches off, hung around and got some two-strike hits."

In the second inning, WNC added four more runs. Mannens' RBI triple highlighted the rally. Lichty and Peters also executed a double steal, enabling the latter to safely slide across the plate. Lichty and Daniel Nist also knocked in runs during the rally.

Mount Hood's Andrew Haley ended Ragan's bid for perfection with a one-out double to right in the fifth. Ragan also lost his shutout in the same inning as Taylor Travess followed Haley with a RBI double.

WNC, however, retrieved the run with a well-executed suicide squeeze bunt by Nist. Nist's bunt scored Lewis, who reached on a double and went to third on Mannens' groundout to the right side of the infield.

Several players off the Wildcats' bench expanded the lead in the sixth. Abe Yagi launched a run-scoring triple, and a RBI single off the bat of Riley Hennings made the score 9-2. Mannens knocked in his second run of the game with a single, completing the scoring.

Jordy Van den Heuvel of Belgium made his season debut for the Wildcats, tossing the final 1 1/3 innings. He surrendered two hits and struck out one.

"I'm pretty happy because I just came back from an injury," Van den Heuvel said.
Added Whittemore, "He put a lot of time into his rehab and really worked hard the last four weeks, so I'm really excited for him."

In the second game, the Saints built a 3-0 lead through three innings against WNC starter Kyle Thompson. Bowen Ogata slapped a RBI base hit in the first and Travess socked a two-run double in the third.

But after holding the Wildcats hitless through the first three innings, Seth Rayburn ran into trouble in the fourth.
"He was throwing across his body and throwing a really heavy ball and had a little two-seam run to it, too," Peters said. "The first time through we were making really solid contact, so by the second time around, he wasn't going to get us for sure.

"Especially in these nine-inning games you can't get down when you're down 3-0 in the third inning."
Peters followed Brogan Secrist's single and Lichty's double with a homer estimated at 425 feet, knotting the score at 3.

"It was a curveball outside, and I just tried to take it that way," Peters said. "It was a big home run to tie things up."

The rally included two more extra-base hits. Doubles by Yagi and Eric Flores gave WNC its first lead, 4-3.

After a Travess double retied the score in the fifth, the Wildcats reclaimed the lead in their half of the inning. Chad Bell and Secrist doubled and tripled, respectively, putting WNC ahead 5-4. Peters' grounder deep in the hole allowed Secrist to come home with WNC's sixth run.

"Someone just gets a hit, starts a big rally and it just sparks all of us to get more into the game, more hyped up," Secrist said.

Secrist went from long ball to small ball in the sixth, laying down a well-placed bunt along the first-base line to score Sam Salyers for a 7-4 WNC lead.

"I was just trying to do whatever coach Whittemore asks of me and give our team the best chance to win," Secrist said.

Jordan Dreibelbis (2-0) relieved Thompson to start the fourth inning and gave up single runs in the fifth and seventh innings before handing the ball to Josh Mill for the final two innings. Mill was particularly effective, retiring six of the seven batters he faced - three on strikes - to pick up his first save.

Besides Lichty's three-hit performance, Bell was 2 for 4 with three runs scored, Secrist was 2 for 4 with two runs scored and two RBI, Peters was 2 for 5 with two runs scored and four RBI, Yagi was 2 for 4 with a run scored and David Modler was 2 for 4.

WNC concluded its preseason schedule with a 10-6 record. The Wildcats will open Scenic West Athletic Conference play against College of Southern Idaho with a doubleheader starting at noon Friday in Carson City.
"I think were ready, and I'm excited," Secrist said.