With just over a month left to play in the season the Eagles currently find themselves sitting in fourth place in the NJCAA Region XIV Eastern Zone. With an overall record of 11-18 and a conference mark of 5-9, the Eagles trail Paris Junior College (6-4), Panola (9-3) and Navarro (10-2) in the race to make the Regional Tournament.
?It has been a bit of a rough season for us so far, but we are not out of the playoff picture yet,? Eagles Head Coach Josh Stewart said. ?We still have a chance to turn things around before it?s all over.?
The Eagles opened the season with a strong run, going to 7-2 before dropping 13 of their next 14 games. The Eagles swept Bossier Parish in the first two conference games of the season, but dropped nine of the next twelve to fall to their current conference record of 5-9.
The Eagles snapped a six-game conference losing streak last week when they downed Bossier Parish 3-0 in the first game of a double header Wednesday. NTCC dropped its next two games but bounced back with a 5-3 win over Angelina Saturday.
?We had several games there where we just couldn?t seem to put the bat on the ball,? Stewart said. ?We finally have some of our hitters coming around now.?
Despite their hitting woes, the Eagles have been able to stay in games with the help of their pitching staff, which boasts the two of the top four strikeout leaders in the conference.
Sophomore Greg Milhorn is currently second in the conference with 40 strikeouts while Kyle Neely is right behind him with 37. Neely is also currently third in the conference in ERA at 1.94 while Milhorn is eighth at 2.61.
While the Eagles have had their troubles at the plate as a team, freshman Hayden Martin has been doing well and is 11th†in the conference in batting average at .347.
The Eagles have been on the move when they do reach base as the team is currently third in the conference with 42 steals. Martin leads the team with 11 steals and is currently fourth in the conference while teammates Wesley Hoover and Dalton Daniels are also in the top 20.
The Eagles are back in action today as they travel to Carthage to face Panola before hosting Paris Junior College for a double header Saturday starting at 1 p.m.
