Eagles battle Navarro for conference title Wednesday

The Northeast Texas Community College Eagles baseball team is hoping for †a large home crowd Wednesday†afternoon as they battle Navarro College for the Region XIV†Eastern Zone regular-season title.

The two teams enter Wednesday?s matchup in a virtual tie†atop the standings with an Eagle sweep earning NTCC the†title outright. While the games mark the end of the regular†season for the Eagles, the Bulldogs finish their season with†a pair of games at Paris Junior College Saturday.

The Eagles (31-14. 24-10) come into the contest with a†four-game conference winning streak while the Bulldogs†(32-15, 23-9) have won three of their last four conference†matchups.†The double-header gets underway at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

NTCC picked up a pair of conference wins Saturday as they†took on Lon Morris College in Jacksonville.†The Eagles used a dramatic final-inning comeback to grab a†win in game one Saturday as they scored seven runs in the†seventh inning to earn a 9-6 victory over the Bearcats.†Down 6-2 with one out in the seventh inning, Dauris Holguin†got the Eagle rally started with a solo home run over the†fence in right field. Singles by Shane Segovia and Matt

Durst and an error on a ground ball by Payton Allen allowed†the Eagles to load the bases before a single by Costa†brought in Segovia to cut the Eagle deficit to 6-4.†Billy Gonzales was hit by a pitch in the next Eagle at-bat,†forcing in Durst to cut the Bearcat lead to one and a single†to right by Wesley Hoover scored Allen and Costa to give the†Eagles a 7-5 lead. The NTCC lead continued to grow as†Gonzales stole home on a close play and Luis Sanchez

followed with a double to left that scored Hoover to put the†Eagles up 9-6.

Closer Eric Rodriguez came in to pitch the bottom of the†seventh for the Eagles and gave up a one-out walk before†getting the final batter to hit into a double play to earn†the save.†Holguin led the Eagle hitters in the win, going 3-5 while†Hoover finished 2-3 with three RBI and a walk.†Cody Ressler picked up the win for NTCC, giving up two runs†on two hits while striking out one and walking one in one†and two-thirds inning of work. Justin Schnedler started the†game for the Eagles and gave up four runs on eight hits†while striking out seven and walking three in four and a†third innings of action.

The Eagles used a three-run fourth inning and two-run eighth†to pull away for a win in game two Saturday as NTCC earned†an 8-6 victory over the Bearcats.†Wesley Hoover, Allen and Richard Bain all scored in the†fourth inning as the Eagles grabbed a 5-4 lead but Lon†Morris scored one to tie the game at 5-5 in the bottom of†the fifth.

An RBI single by Chris Burdette in the sixth inning brought†in Allen to give the Eagles a 6-5 lead before RBI singles by†Holguin and Durst put the Eagles up 8-5 in the eighth.†The Eagles held off a Bearcat rally in the ninth to earn the†victory.

Allen finished 3-4 with an RBI in the victory while Hoover,†Burdette and Sanchez each also added three hits each in the†win.†Daniel Tockhorn picked up the win for the Eagles, giving up†one run on four hits while striking out seven and walking†one in four and two-thirds innings of action.