Pictured: Sawyre Thornhill had a big day at the plate for the Eagles
By: Justin Hargrove, Assistant Athletic Director
Northeast Texas Community College and Navarro College met up on the diamond at NTCC on Saturday after rains early in the week forced some changes to the schedule. NTCC would defeat Navarro 9-5 before falling 17-5 in game two.
The Bulldogs got on the board first, plating one run in the top of the first inning to lead 1-0. The lead was brief as the Eagles scored 3 runs to capture the lead at 3-1 after one inning of play. Sawyre Thornhill (Huntington HS) had a big day at the plate and it all started with a three-run homerun in the first inning when he hit a deep shot to right field scoring Cole Modgling (Medina Valley HS) and Luke McBride (Nashville, AR HS).
Navarro would add two more runs in the third to tie the game at 3-3 but that was short lived again as NTCC answered right back in the bottom half of the inning adding two more runs for the Eagles.
McBride and Thornhill would both single to start the inning and make their way around the bases to help NTCC regain the lead. Cameron Loy (Mansfield HS) would get the runners home with a two RBI single to left field to bring the score to 5-3 NTCC.
Navarro would score one run in the fourth inning and NTCC answered with two runs to bring the game to 7-4, and the bulldogs tried to get closer adding one more in the sixth to get cut the score to 7-5. NTCC put the game away in the six innings when Thornhill hit his second homerun of the game, scoring McBride who reached on a single to center to make score 9-5.
McBride would go three for four with one RBI and three runs scored. Thornhill had a five RBI day going three for three with a walk with two of the three hits as homeruns to right field. Loy added a nice day for the Eagles as well going three for four with a walk to help pace the Eagles offense in game one.
Logan Asay (Frisco Wakeland HS) got the start and win on the mound in game one against Navarro, he pitched four innings giving up four runs on four hits with five strikeouts. Camden Sargent (Brazosport Christian HS) picked up the save adding three more strikeouts over three innings in relief.
While things went the Eagles way in game one, game two saw NTCC fall behind early and they could not fight their way back from the deficit.
Navarro got on the board with one run in the first, one run in the second inning, and two runs in the third to take a 4-0 lead before NTCC would try to answer back.
The Eagles cut into the lead in the bottom of the third, scoring two runs to bring the game to 4-2. Modgling would double to center field to start the inning and Thornhill went deep for the third time that day and got the Eagles on the board with the two-run homerun.
Navarro answered right back with two more runs in the fourth inning to lead 6-2. The Eagles added two runs in the bottom of the fourth when Noah Miller doubled to left field and then scored when Jett Forrest tripled to right/center field. Forrest would score when Modgling singled to right field to cut the lead to 6-4.
A big five run inning by the Bulldogs from Navarro in the fifth inning put the game out of reach as the Eagles would manage just one run in the bottom of the fifth and could not answer back when Navarro scored three runs in the sixth and three runs in the seventh to lead 17-5.
Loy added the final Eagle run in the fifth when he homered to right field. Modgling led the Eagles offense in game two going three for four.
Five NTCC pitchers combine for twelve strikeouts in the game but untimely walks and errors tagged on to the fourteen hits by Navarro proved too much for the Eagles offense to overcome.
NTCC will travel to North Central Texas College on Monday, April 12 for a non-conference game before returning to conference play against Panola College on Thursday. The Eagles will host the Ponies at 3:00pm in a single game.
