Baseball to host Pearl River in MACJC Best of Three
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com
FULTON, MS – Having clinched a top-five seed in the upcoming National Junior College Athletic Assoication (NJCAA) Region 23 Baseball Tournament, the Itawamba Community College baseball team will host the opening round best-of-three series against the Pearl River Community College Wildcats.
Games will be played Thursday, May 11 and Friday, May 12. Thursday's single game is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. with the first game of Friday potential doubleheader set for 2:00 p.m. The "if necessary" game would be played 30 minutes after the conclusion of game two of the series. The series will be available on LetsGoICCTV.com/BLUE.
The No. 5 seed Indians (30-14) swept the No. 6 seed Wildcats (25-17) 5-4 and 7-6 in Fulton on April 1. Admission to the best-of-three series be $5.00 per day with only MACJC passes being accepted. ICC students, faculty, and staff will be admitted free with a valid college ID.
This year's Region 23 Tournament format features the top nine teams in the conference advancing to postseason play with the overall No. 1 seed, Jones County Junior College (44-2), earning the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) Championship and a bye into the second round of the tournament. The No. 2, 3, 4, and 5 seeds will host the No. 6, 7, 8, and 9 seeds in a best-of-three series with the winners joining Jones County and LSU-Eunice (42-9) in the tournament.
UPDATE 1:15 PM; Monday: There will be additional changes to the way the games are played due to the tournament being a NJCAA tournament. There will be no courtesy runner allowed for the catcher. There will be no intentional walks allowed to any batters. The run rule will be 10 runs after five innings and eight runs after seven innings.
Teams joining the Indians and Wildcats in the postseason: No. 2 Northwest Mississippi Community College (29-17); No. 3 Hinds Community College (28-16); No. 4 East Central Community College (31-15); No. 7 Mississippi Delta Community College (29-17); No. 8 East Mississippi Community College (25-17); and No. 9 Copiah Lincoln Community College (20-25).
A major shakeup reshaped the final week of the standings after Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (21-23) had to forfeit six games due to playing ineligible players. The Indians finished in a four-way tie for second place with Northwest, Hinds, and East Central at 17-11 in league play. Pearl River earned the No. 6 seed after holding the tiebreaker over Delta.
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