By Justin Hargrove, Assistant Athletic Director
Northeast Texas Community College baseball traveled to Lufkin last week to take on Angelina College in conference play. Matt Scheurich had the hot bat in the first game, tallying four hits and leading NTCC Eagles to a 12-3 victory over Angelina College. Scheurich singled in the first, doubled in the third, singled in the seventh, and homered in the eighth.
NTCC got on the board in the first inning when Brian Juarez drove in one when he singled to right field.
The Eagles tallied six runs in the eighth inning. The big bats were led by Cody Cleveland, John Russ, Scheurich, and Juarez, all knocking in runs in the inning.
Jordan Martinez, Garrett Chappell, Sawyer Smallwood, Javan Smitherman, and Mikel Howell were on the pitcher's mound for the Eagles in the win.
Potential weather on Saturday forced the teams to move games 2 and 3 to Friday at Northeast Texas Community College. NTCC ran off with the lead late in the first game in a 5-4 victory over Angelina College on Friday. The game was tied at four with the Eagles batting in the bottom of the sixth when a sacrifice bunt by Andrew Skivington scored one run for NTCC.
Angelina College opened up scoring in the second inning, when Drake Pierson singled on the first pitch of the at bat, scoring one run.
NTCC evened things up at four in the bottom of the fifth inning when Isaac Rivera's sac fly scored one run for Eagles.
After Angelina College scored one run in the top of the fourth, NTCC answered with one of their own. Angelina College scored when Trent Brown singled on a 1-1 count, scoring one run. NTCC then answered when Cody Cleveland singled to right on a 3-2 count, scoring one run.
Hayden Shaddox got the win for the Eagles. He allowed zero hits and zero runs over one inning, striking out one and walking zero. Hunter Riley threw one inning in relief out of the bullpen. Riley recorded the last three outs to earn the save for Eagles.
Game 3 of the series saw Northeast Texas fall to Angelina 11-5. The Eagles struggled to put runs on the board and had a tough time defensively containing Angelina College, giving up 11 runs. Jackson Rutledge was on the pitcher's mound for NTCC. He lasted two innings, allowing four hits and six runs while striking out one and walking one. Ty Clark, Mikel Howell, Javan Smitherman, and Garrett Chappell each entered the game as relief, throwing three innings, two innings, one inning, and one inning respectively.
Matt Scheurich led NTCC with two hits in four at bats. The Eagles return to conference play on Thursday, March 28th when they travel to Corsicana to take on the Navarro Bulldogs. Games 2 and 3 of the series will be held at NTCC (9-20, 4-8 in conference) on Saturday, March 30th at 1:00pm.
