The Northeast Texas Community College Eagles baseball team has found itself in the middle of a four-team race for one of three remaining playoff spots.††Paris Junior College has secured a playoff spot with a 15-3 record in conference play.†Ironically, all three of their losses have been to Northeast.†The Eagles have 10 conference wins.††Panola, Angelina, and Navarro are all within one game of each other.
The Eagles have eight games remaining on their schedule and all them are very important. The first contest is a doubleheader against Panola on Friday, April 18 at NTCC. The team will then travel to Corsicana for a three-game series against Navarro on Friday, April 25 and will conclude with a doubleheader the following day.†The Eagles final three games of the season are at home against Angelina College at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 2 followed by a doubleheader on Saturday, May 3 at 1 p.m.
In recent action, Northeast defeated Panola College this week, took two of three from Bossier Parish Community College (BPCC) and one of three in a series with the Paris Junior College Dragons (PJC) last week.
In the victory over Panola this past Tuesday, Zach Osborne led the Eagles to a 5-2 win allowing eight hits and two runs in eight innings. Smart and aggressive base running by the Eagles allowed them to put runs on the board for the first five innings. Oscar Meuris pitched the final inning for the Eagles and recorded the save.
In action last week against Bossier Parrish, the Eagles lost the first game of a three game set but came back strong by winning the next two. Tanner Buxton pitched a shutout giving up only two hits against 22 batters. Austin Griffin was big at the plate sending one over the fence in the sixth with one man on.†This proved to be the only scoring in the second game of the series which ended with an Eagles 2-0 victory.
Game three was a high scoring affair.††Four runs in the first inning helped to put the Eagles ahead and the team was able to hold on to the lead despite BPCC putting seven runs on the board. Lane Lewis recorded the 11-7 win for the Eagles with Osborne taking the save.
Paris took the first and third games of their series.††In the second game, Garrett Douglas scored on an error in the fifth to tie the game and Connor Drake worked his way around the bases in the ninth to finish the game giving the Eagles a 2-1 victory over the first place Dragons.††Oscar Meuris picked up the win for the good guys.
Heartbreak and bad luck fell on the Eagles during the first and third games of the Paris series. Osborn opened the first game against the Dragons and only gave up one run in nine innings. Tied with a score of 1-1, Dalton Algiene relieved Osborn and an error allowed the Dragons a series of runs to defeat the Eagles 4-1.
History repeated itself in the third game as Lane Lewis pitched six innings and allowed only one hit and a resulting run. Lenzie Foley took the mound in the seventh inning and the Dragons put three runs on the board in the eighth to defeat the Eagles 4-1.
Follow the team on Twitter @NTCC_Baseball for updates and visit ntcceagles.com for rosters, schedules, and more.
April 18, 2014
