Pictured: Raef Wright
By: Justin Hargrove, Assistant Athletic Director
Northeast Texas Community College Baseball headed East to take on the Centenary College Gents on Tuesday, February 7, 2023 and came away with a 17-7 victory to move to 3-0 on the young season. Weather forced the Eagles to hit the road a day early to get ahead of the rain in the forecast.
The Eagles would put on an offensive show in the single game affair with Raef Wright, (Burleson, TX) reaching base safely 6 times in the game to lead the offensive effort. Wright went three for four with two walks and a hit by pitch and scored twice in the NTCC win.
The Eagles would get on the board first in the top of the second inning plating one run when Catcher Si Schumacher (Carthage, TX) was hit by a pitch and then able to make his way around to score during the inning to lead 1-0.
A big third inning was started when Connor Chavez (Lantana, TX) led off with a single to left. Wright would follow with a single and advance on a Sacrifice Fly to Right field by Seth Cox (Fairview, TX). Rohan Sanganera (Santa Clara, CA) singled and two more Eagles walked and two more put the ball in play to score seven runs in the top of the third inning to lead 8-0.
Wright would single again in the top of the fourth and use his speed to steal second and then steal third, which allowed him to score on a single by Sanganera to put NTCC up 9-0.
The Gents of Centenary would try to get back in the game in the bottom of the fourth when they scored five runs off of four hits, two walks and a hit by the pitch. After five innings of play the Eagles led 9-5 with neither team scoring in the fifth inning.
NTCC would pick up three more runs in their half of the sixth inning off of three hits, a sacrifice bunt, and three walks to bring the score to 12-5. Again Centenary would try to keep the game close in the bottom of the sixth adding two runs of their own to cut the Eagle lead to 12-7.
The Eagles would add one run in the seventh, three in the eighth inning and one final run in the ninth while keeping the Gents off the board to bring the final score of 17-7.
Six different Eagles shared time on the mound to combine for a NTCC win. The pitchers gave up seven runs on nine hits and struck out nine batters enroot to victory.
Weather is once again playing havoc on the Eagles upcoming schedule as the games this weekend against Cowley College on Friday and Saturday could be in jeopardy due to rain midweek. Check the NTCC Athletics webpage for up to date schedules at www.ntcceagles.com.
