Week two of the baseball season started off well for the Scotties, as they won their first three games, defeating Southeast Nebraska by scores of 15-2 and 5-2 on Thursday, March 1.  After being rained out on Saturday, March 3, the Scotties traveled to Kansas City Kansas Community College  to open conference play on Sunday, March 4, winning game one 6-3, before losing 10-9 in game two, and on Monday, March 5, lost game one 5-3, and lost game two 3-2.

In game one against Southeast Community College of Beatrice, NE, the Scotties scored seven runs in the third inning to erase a 2-0 deficit, and then added eight runs in the fourth inning to put the game away in five innings.  Chris Egger (Andover) picked up his first win of the season, pitching four solid innings, allowing two runs on five hits.  On the offensive side, the Scotties were led by Jeremy Monty (Colorado Springs, CO), who had three hits and two RBIs.  Tyler Goldsberry ((Papillion, NE), Jesse Richel ((Morris, OK), Brady Greear (Centralia, IL), and Taylor Holz (St. Marys) had two hits each.

In game two, Andrew Mercer (Newfoundland) pitched five innings in picking up his second win of the season, and Josh Reynolds (Gretna, NE) pitched two scoreless innings in relief, as the Scotties earned a 5-2 win.  HCC scored four runs in the third inning, and added an insurance run in the sixth inning.  Jeremy Monty and Jordan Oddo (Grain Valley, MO) had two hits each, while Tyler Goldsberry had two RBIs.

On Sunday, March 4, HCC opened conference play with a 6-3 victory over Kansas City Kansas Community College.  Jeremy Monty, Tyler Goldsberry, and Jesse Richel had two hits each, while Richel and Josh Reynolds had two RBIs each to lead the Scotties offensively.  Nick Sarmiento (Saginaw, MI) pitched five innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits.  Derek Rottinghaus (Seneca) pitched two scoreless innings to pick up his fourth save.

In game two, the Scotties couldn’t hold on to a 9-3 lead, as KCK took advantage of Highland’s miscues to score four runs in the sixth inning and two runs in the seventh to tie the game at 9-9 and sending the game to extra innings.  The Scotties were unable to score in the eighth and ninth innings, opening the door for KCK to win the game with a two out walk-off single.  Jeremy Monty had four hits and Tyler Goldsberry had three RBIs for HCC.

On Monday, March 5, the Scotties traveled back to KCK to finish the four game series, losing game one by 5-3.  Trailing 4-0 going into the top of the fourth inning, HCC scored three runs on a RBI single by Brady Greear and a two run single by Craig Hill (Morris, OK).  KCK scored one run in the bottom of the inning to widen their lead to 5-3.  The Scotties missed a great opportunity in the top of the fifth inning when Andrew Standish (Omaha, NE) started the inning with a double and Jesse Richel singled, putting runners at first and third with no outs, but two strike-outs and a ground-out ended the threat.  Jeremy Monty, Andrew Standish, and Brady Greear had two hits each.

In game two, KCK took advantage of three Scottie errors to score three unearned runs in the second inning, and made the lead stand up for a 3-2 win.  HCC couldn’t muster any offense in the first five innings, but tried to rally, scoring two runs in the sixth inning on a  RBI triple by Josh Reynolds, and a sacrifice fly by Jesse Richel to close the gap to 3-2.  The Scotties then loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning, but were unable to come up with the big hit.