Pictured: Aiden Leonard on the mount for the Eagles.
By: Justin Hargrove, Assistant Athletic Director
草榴社区 (NTCC) hosted North Central Texas College (NCTC) in a three-game series and came away with a sweep of the Lions. In game one, the Eagles combined for a two pitcher no hitter in a 10-0 win, and on day 2 had back to back 6-5 wins to complete the series sweep.
In game one on Saturday, NTCC sent Aiden Leonard (Kaplan, LA) to the mound for the start. Leonard would pitch 4 innings with no hits and four strikeouts before handing the ball over to Mason Nguyen (Mansfield, TX) for the fifth and final inning. Nguyen would have two strikeouts in his one inning of work to finish off the 10-0 win for the Eagles.
Offensively in game one of the series, the Eagles were led by Luke Regas (Waxahachie, TX) who went three for four with four runs batted in (RBI鈥檚). Braden Duff (Mount Pleasant, TX) would also have a two hit game to help pace the Eagles offense.
Day two of the series saw excellent weather for the Eagles to battle with NCTC for a pair of 6-5 wins. In the first game of the day on Saturday, the Eagles and Lions would go back in forth on the scoreboard but NTCC would ultimately take the lead in the fifth inning to hold on for the win in the seven-inning affair.
Clark Scallon (Buda, TX) would take the mound in game two of series and go two and two-thirds innings giving up three runs on six hits while striking out three. Gary Rondeau (Haughton, LA) would replace Scallon and pitch one and two-thirds innings. Kyler Mirtello (Sioux Falls, SD) would see some time on the mound before handing the ball over to Cooper Schwank (Richmond, TX) would pick up the win with his one inning of work in the sixth inning. Ayden Terry (Lavon, TX) would close out the seventh inning with two strikeouts to seal the 6-5 win.
Braden Duff continued his hot bat from the first game of the series and went two for three with a run scored to help the Eagles defeat the Lions.
The final game of the series also saw the Eagle and Lions battle it out to a 6-5 score with the Eagles completing the sweep of NCTC to open the season with three wins and no losses.
Both teams would score two runs each in the first inning to start off game three tied at 2-2 after 1. Neither squad would plate runs in the second and NCTC took a brief lead in the third when they plated a run off a ground out to short stop and then an error on the next play. The 4-2 lead was cut into by the Eagles in the bottom of the third when Ayden Terry would single and later score Cooper Schock (Chandler, TX) singled to cut the lead to 4-3 Lions.
Both teams would go scoreless in the fourth inning and the Eagles kept the Lions off the board in the top of the fifth before tacking on 3 runs to put the game away. Luke Nohinek would pinch hit and single to right to score two runs to move the Eagles in front. Paul Samaripa (Hutton,TX) would draw a walk and later score on a wild pitch to put NTCC up 6-4.
NCTC would try to make a comeback in the sixth inning with a solo homerun to cut the score to 6-5 but was unable to manufacture any more runs in the sixth or seventh inning.
The Eagles will host Eastern Oklahoma on Wednesday, February 5th at 1:00pm in a single nine inning game. Dr. Ron Clinton, NTCC President, will throw out the first pitch at 12:45pm.
For up to date schedules or to purchase tickets in advance please visit the NTCC Athletics website at . Tickets can be purchased in advance from the website, or the Home Town Fan App or at the gate. Ticket sales and concessions are cashless with credit and debit cards accepted.
