The Northeast Texas Community College Eagles battled through one of the toughest roads possible to capture the 2026 Region XIV North Tournament Championship this weekend, winning four games in four days and defeating Navarro College twice in less than 24 hours to earn a berth in the NJCAA Super Regional. Click here for free downloadable tournament photos.
"We are so proud of our baseball team and coaching staff. After suffering the first loss to Navarro, those young men showed a tremendous amount of heart, toughness, and character battling their way back and beating Navarro twice to win the Region 14 North Championship," Dr. Jon McCullough, NTCC Executive Vice President for Advancement, said. "That is not easy to do. They competed hard, handled themselves the right way, and represented NTCC with a lot of class throughout the tournament."
NTCC opened tournament play Thursday afternoon with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Alvin College at Eagle Field. The Eagles edged Alvin in a tightly contested pitchers’ duel to advance into the winner’s bracket and set up a matchup with Navarro College on Friday evening.
The Bulldogs handed NTCC its first loss of the tournament Friday night, defeating the Eagles 11-2 and pushing them into an elimination path the rest of the weekend. Facing the possibility of having to win four straight games to claim the championship, the Eagles responded in dominant fashion.
Saturday afternoon, NTCC eliminated Alvin College with an 11-1 run-rule victory in six innings. The Eagles exploded offensively with 11 hits and were led by Boston Seahorn, BJ Lumkins, Cameron Reiter, and Jonathon Kent, while Tanner Webb turned in a strong outing on the mound.
Just hours later, the Eagles returned to the field for another elimination game against undefeated Navarro College. NTCC delivered one of its best offensive performances of the season in a 13-4 victory that forced a winner-take-all championship game. BJ Lumkins went 4-for-6 with three RBI, Jonathon Kent homered and drove in four runs, and David Sorg added a home run and three RBI. Sam Durard, Bryson Bentley, and Lane Cole combined to hold Navarro in check on the mound.
Sunday’s championship game brought even more adversity. Due to poor field conditions and weather, the game was moved from Eagle Field to Paris Junior College. Continued rain and issues with the lights at the PJC field forced yet another relocation, with first pitch eventually taking place at Paris High School later that evening.
Despite the uncertainty, delays, intermittent rain, and adjusting to a full turf field, the Eagles delivered one of their most complete performances of the postseason in a 4-0 shutout victory over Navarro to secure the Region XIV North Tournament Championship.
NTCC jumped out to an early lead and relied on outstanding pitching throughout the night. Kaleb Kuhn struck out seven over three scoreless innings, Chris Whitaker earned the win with five shutout innings in relief, and Lane Cole closed the door in the ninth. The Bulldogs managed just three hits in the game.
The Eagles finished the tournament by winning three elimination games in less than 30 hours and handed Navarro its only two losses of the tournament.
With the championship victory, NTCC advances to the NJCAA Super Regional next weekend as the Region XIV North Tournament champions. Details about the tournament venue and game times will be announced soon.
