Eagles capture region crown

from school reports

BATON ROUGE, La. — Facing elimination, Delgado Community College rallied in the ninth to force a second game Monday to determine the NJCAA Region 23 championship against Meridian Community College.

In the title game, the Dolphins again used a ninth-inning rally to avoid defeat. However, the Eagles responded to claim the region crown with a 15-10 win in 13 innings. Delgado won the first game 14-13. The Eagles advance to the South Central District tournament May 15-16 at the Region 16 champion in Missouri.

“We never gave up,” MCC coach Chris Rose said. “It was a situation where both teams had many opportunities to feel sorry for themselves or give up or take an at-bat off, but they never did.

“It was a pretty unbelievable game, and definitely glad that we’re on this side of it. You hate to play that hard and have to go home losing it. That would be absolutely atrocious. I don’t know how you lose that game when you play that hard and leave everything out there on the field, like you’re supposed to do. It’s like I told the guys, ‘We’re going to find a way to win. There is something special about being an Eagle.’ And they got it done.”

After Delgado scored four runs in the ninth inning of Monday’s first game to grab the comeback win, the Dolphins got a solo home run from Cory Guidry with two outs in the bottom of the ninth of the championship to knot the game at 10. From there, each team managed to work out of trouble to remain tied. MCC left two runners on in the 10th, while Delgado left the bases loaded in the 11th and grounded into an inning-ending double play in the 10th. The Dolphins also had a runner on third with one out in the 12th before MCC shortstop Jordan King stepped up to keep the game knotted.

With one out, King fielded a grounder and fired home to Brent Tanner in time to nab the Delgado runner at the plate to help send it to the 13th inning. There, King started a five-run Eagles rally with a leadoff double. Former West standout Tyler Vick was intentionally walked following a Tanner sacrifice fly to put runners on the corners. Drew Crosby then produced a two-run double to put MCC in front. Kenny Sanders would added a two-run double later in the frame as the Eagles scored five.

“It took every guy,” Rose added. “I mean Drew Crosby had probably only one at-bat in the past 15 games and he gets a big bases-loaded triple. That was unbelievable.”

Jared Cavenaugh closed out the game for the Eagles on the mound, earning the win with four strikeouts in two innings. Starter Garrett Harris allowed 10 hits and eight runs in five innings before Mandelo Mingo and Blake Hennington each allowed one run.

Tanner and Vick each homered for MCC, while Sanders went 4-for-5 and Taylor Scarborough scored three runs on three walks. Vick’s blast was his 24th of the year, upping his single-season record for the Eagles.

Delgado 13
Meridian 12

In Monday’s first game, MCC grabbed a 12-7 lead with a five-run seventh behind a three-run triple from Corey Dickerson and a two-run home run from King. However, Delgado scored three in the eighth and then scored four runs off of three Eagles’ pitchers in the ninth.

After Jason Judge allowed a walk and a single to open the top of the ninth, Allen Johnson took over and got two outs on a sacrifice bunt and a fielder’s choice ground out to third. However, an infield single and a walk left the bases loaded with two outs when Hennington relieved. Another infield single and a walk produced two more runs to score.

MCC’s offense answered with a single by Dickerson, who scored on an error on a King grounder. However, Tanner, Vick and Wesley Thigpen were unable to plate King from second to force the championship game.

Dickerson went 4-for-6 with 5 RBIs for MCC in the opener, while King drove in two runs on four hits and Vick and William Beckwith each went 3-for-5.

Cavenaugh allowed seven runs on nine hits in 5 1-3 innings for MCC before giving way to Allen Williams, Judge, Johnson and Hennington.