ICC to host NJCAA Region 23 Tournament

ICC to host NJCAA Region 23 Tournament

FULTON, Miss. – The No. 2 Indians earned hosting rights of the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament by winning the MACJC title and will compete for the regional crown this week in Fulton.

The tournament is scheduled to start Wednesday and will be held on Roy Cresap Field and the Indians (39-6-1) will be one of six teams competing for the region title and to punch their ticket the NJCAA World Series. Of those six teams, five are ranked in the top ten nationally.

Defending National Champs and No. 1 ranked LSU-Eunice (48-6) will be a three seed and are the only team the Indians didn't face in the regular season. However, the Indians took the Bengals to extra innings in last year's regional before falling 5-4 in 11-innings.

Pearl River Community College, Jones College, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and Northwest Mississippi Community College earned their way to the tournament winning a best-of-three series.

The fifth seeded Pearl River Wildcats (36-12) are ranked sixth nationally and were swept by the Indians on March 23 in a pair of extra inning affairs. The Indians took game one 4-3 in 10-innings and game two 7-6 in 9-innings after the Indians scored four in the seventh to tie the game and won on a walk-off home run in the ninth.

Jones (37-10) defeated Hinds to make the tournament as a two seed and are No. 5 in the NJCAA. On March 30 in Ellisville, the Indians swept the Bobcats winning game one 9-4 and game two 7-0.

The Indians first opponent is Gulf Coast (28-16), who made the tournament as a six seed after sweeping Meridian Community College in the best-of-three series. These team's wrapped up the regular season May 3 in Perkinston, with the Indians sweeping the doubleheader 10-9, 4-1.

Northwest (33-12) was the final squad to punch their ticket into the region tournament as they won the decisive game three over Northeast Sunday night in Senatobia. The Rangers split with the Indians in the regular season in Fulton, taking game one 5-2, but fell 6-3 in game two. They enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed and are ranked No. 9 in the NJCAA.

The first game of the tournament is set for noon Wednesday with LSU-Eunice and Northwest going head-to-head. Followed by Jones and Pearl River at 3:30 p.m., and the hosting Indians will play Gulf Coast at 7 p.m. All games will be broadcast live on LetsGoICCTV.com.

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