MCC baseball places three on all-Midlands JUCO team

Three McCook Community College baseball players have been named to the Omaha World Herald’s junior college all-Midlands baseball team. Four more players received honorable mention.

Pitcher Aiden Johnson, DH Jackson Yeager and utility player Cory Wouters were named to the first team while honorable mention went to catcher Michael Quick, closer Ethan Badcock, utility player Luke Bies and outfielder Will Edwards.

Johnson, 6-4 right-handed pitcher from Westminster, Colo. led the pitching staff with 11 games started. The sophomore went 7-4 with a 4.25 ERA and struck out 79 hitters in 59 innings and walked just 15. He was second in Region IX in wins, strikeouts and ERA and made the all-Region IX first team.

Yeager, 6-2 sophomore first-baseman/DH was third on the team batting .371 with 19 doubles, eight homers and a team-best 55 RBIs in 51 games. He was seventh in Region IX in RBIs and tied for second in doubles. He was second-team all-Region IX. Yeager will continue his baseball career at the University of Sioux Falls, a D2 school in S.D.

Wouters, a 6-2 freshman infielder/outfielder/pitcher from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan was named Region IX’s freshman of the year and selected Region IX all-second team. He posted the second-best batting average in MCC history and led the squad this season with a .416 batting average. He had 12 doubles, nine home runs and 44 RBIs in 52 games with a .488 on-base mark and a slugged .642. He also appeared in 11 games on the mound with four starts going 3-7 with an 8.71 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 41 innings.

Quick, a 5-10 sophomore catcher/DH from Oshawa, Ontario, received Omaha World-Herald honorable mention. He was a second team All-Region IX player, and was second on the team hitting .393 with a .468 on-base average, 15 doubles, two triples, six home runs and 50 RBIs.

Badcock, 5-10 left-handed relief pitcher from Adelaide, Australia, led Region IX with six saves. The sophomore struck out 63 hitters in 45.2 innings and allowed 40 hits. He appeared in 21 games this season and was also named second-team all-Region IX relief pitcher.

Bies, 5-9 infielder/outfielder from Omaha Gross, tied for the team lead with 10 home runs in his only season at MCC for the sophomore. He batted .362 with 11 doubles, three triples and 50 RBIs in 51 games. He was honorable mention all-Region IX.

Sophomore Edwards, from Sydney, Australia, batted.369 with four homers and 39 RBIs in 40 games played. He was also honorable mention for all-Region IX.