Pictured: Raef Wright at-bat for the Eagles.
By: Justin Hargrove, Assistant Athletic Director
February 22nd the NTCC Eagles head down to Tyler, Texas to open of Conference play for the 2023 season with the TJC Apaches. TJC would take game one, but it took extra innings to do so, winning 3-2 in eleven innings. Game two would go the Eagles way with a 9-2 win over the Apaches.
NTCC got on the board first in the top of the first in game one, when Raef Wright (Burleson, Texas) led off the game with a single and scored when Seth Cox (Fairview, Texas) doubled to left. The scoreboard would remain quiet for the next few innings for both teams until NTCC added another run in the top of the fourth inning.
Si Schumacher (Carthage, Texas) got the two out rally going with a single to center field and advanced to second when Camden Mitchell (Flower Mound, Texas) walked to move Schumacher to scoring position. Si would score on a single to left by Anthony Capobianco (San Antonio, Texas). TJC would score one run in the bottom half of the fifth and sixth innings to tie the game at 2-2 in what was supposed to be the seven-inning game of the seven inning and nine inning double header. The game would move to extra innings and eventually in the bottom of the eleventh, the Apaches pulled off the win, 3-2.
Wright, Cox, and Schumacher would each have two hits in the game one loss. The pitching staff of Dalton Hill, Matthew Howell, Garrett Sargent, and Connor Olson would limit TJC to just six hits and struck out twelve in the extra inning loss.
In game two of the series, now a seven-inning game, NTCC took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third and never really looked back enroot to the 9-2 win.
Capobianco led off with a walk in the third inning and moved up to second on a single by Wright. Capobianco scored on an error and Wright on a Sacrifice Fly by Cox. Rohan Sanganeria (Santa Clara, CA) got in on the action with a double to left-center field and scored on a single by Carson Lorch (Cypress, Texas). TJC would try to answer back in the bottom of the third, but managed just one run to bring the game to 3-1.
The Eagles had a big fifth inning scoring five runs in the inning to increase the lead to 8-1. Wight continued his good day offensively with a lead off single and moved to second on a single by Cox, both would move up a base on a wild pitch to put runners on second and third with no outs. Nathan Harmon (Highland Village, Texas) reached via an error, but the baserunners were not able to score and so the bases remained loaded for Sanganeria. Wright scored on a fielder’s choice by Sanganeria but Cox would be out at third. Carson Lorch put the ball in play and forced another error to load the bases again for the Eagles in the top of the fifth. A Sacrifice Fly by Nolan Bushko (Haslet, Texas) would plate Harmon and then a triple by Jose Magallanes (Holly, Colorado) would score the remaining Eagles.
All was quiet in the sixth inning for both squads and then NTCC added two final runs in the top of the seventh to lead 9-2 going into the final inning for the Apaches. Bushko and Bennie Qualls (Humble, Texas) would both reach via walks and then make their way around to score off a double by Wright. Wright added to his two-hit performance in game one with three additional hits in game two of the series.
Blake Van Cleve (Plano, Texas) would get the start and go four innings giving up just one run on two hits, three walks and eight strikeouts. George Austin (Dallas, TX) and Seth Cox would see time on the mound and added two strikeouts each to bring the total in game two to twelve strikeouts also.
