2007

EC falls 10-2 in Region 23 opener By Marty Stamper r Appeal Sports Editor ( The East Central Com- in .seven mnings at Mcndian Community College's Scaggs Field. ECCC. 31-22. dropped mto

' munity College Waniors got ~ off to a rough. start in the , NJCAA Region 23 baseball l{ tournament Monday as they fell I0-2 to Northwest Mississippi u in opening-round ~ction. C The Rangers scored I 0 ~ runs on only seven hits in run u ruling top-seeded ECCC 10-2

the losers' bracket "'here it was scheduled to take on Gulf Coast, 38-12, Tuesday in an elimination contest. The inability to throw strikes kept the Warriors from giving Northwest much com– petition. Three ECCC hurlers

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- J East Central first ba~>eman awaits a throw on a pickoff attempt of North" est's Michael Ross in \1onday's Region 23 contest. Photo by Marty Stamper -

called for a balk on the next batter to up Northwest's lead to 8-2. A two-run single by Rick Russell C:\tendcd the Rangers' lead to 10-2. Hendrix had a single and stretched a single into a double in the flfth to lead the Warrior offense. Griffin, Jones, George Washjngton. and Chad Gosselin each had one single. Hendrix also had the game's -' defensive gem when he robbed ~ Cregar of a hit with a shding ~ catch in right-center in the fifth. :::> Chase Ware (7-1) went tho..: ~ d . . . hi . h ..., tstance, tossmg a siX- tter w1t four walks and four strikeouts, : to get the win for Northwest. ~ Patterson took the loss for 5 EC. He allowed four runs on :..> five bits. He ~truck out four z and walked two :) Russell and Johnson both - had two singles for the ~ Rangers. who entered the -= tournament \\oith a stulmg S: .364 team batting average.

combmcd to issue seven free passe~ and all seyen wound up cro<>sing the plate. "I didn't coach very' good and we lost the game," was EC( C head coach Neal Holliman's appraisal of the situation. "That's about it.·· Nortll\\ cst took :1 1-0 lca

I::.CCC starter Joe Patterson issued back-to-back walks to Charlie Edwards and Taylor Walker prior to Cregar's blast to right field. It was Cregar·s eighth homer of the year. The Warriors got one run back in the bottom of the third a-; Terrell Hendrix beat out an infield single, then took sec– ond when Walker's throw from shortstop went into the Ranger dugout. Hendrix stole third and scored on a sacrifice bunt by Colby llawthome to cut the Ranger lead to 4-2. fhe Rangers put the game away with six runs offJust two hit~ in the top of the sixth. Patterson retired the first two hatters before giving way to Jo-.h Denson. After Sean Johnson beat out an infield hit, Denson proceeded to walk the nex t four batters to put Northwest up 6-0. Jesus Aleman issued the lilih straight walk and was