No. 21 Indians Fall to Northwest in Region 23 Opener
The No. 21 Indians took the lead into the late innings Tuesday, but Northwest rallied for a 12-6 win in the opening round of the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament at East Central Community College.
DECATUR, Miss. - The No. 21 Indians took the lead into the late innings Tuesday, but Northwest rallied for a 12-6 win in the opening round of the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament at East Central Community College.
ICC scored first, regained the lead in the sixth and carried a 6-4 advantage into the eighth before the Rangers broke the game open with seven runs in the inning.
ICC went in front in the first. Cannon Graham lifted a sacrifice fly to left to score Brody Thompson, then Bryson Jackson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in Reid Kent and make it 2-0.
The Indians added another run in the second when Kent hit a solo home run to left for a 3-0 lead.
The Rangers got on the board with a solo home run in the fourth, then moved in front in the fifth. Northwest scored twice on an error and added another run on a sacrifice fly to take a 4-3 lead.
ICC answered in the sixth and went back in front. Madden Butler lined a two-run single to left to score Thompson and Daniel Whitfield and put the Indians ahead 5-4.
Tre Gunn added to the lead in the seventh with a solo home run to left, pushing the margin to 6-4.
The Rangers turned the game in the eighth. Northwest scored seven runs on five hits in the inning and took the lead for good. The biggest hit was a grand slam to left.
Northwest added one more run in the ninth on a solo home run.
Kent homered and scored twice for ICC. Butler drove in two runs with his go-ahead single in the sixth. Graham and Gunn each added an RBI, with Gunn's coming on his solo home run in the seventh.
Day 2 of the tournament was pushed back to Thursday due to weather concerns. The Indians will face East Mississippi at 6 p.m. after East Mississippi dropped an 8-3 decision to No. 2 East Central. East Mississippi advanced to the matchup with ICC after defeating Northeast 9-5 in the play-in game Monday.
