MOUNTAINEER BASEBALL

Story by Aric Thomas
(03-02-08)

Mountaineers Sweep Northeast Texas Tournament

The Eastern Oklahoma State College baseball team (13-4) ranked 22nd by the NJCAA and 34th by Perfect Game made a clean three game sweep in the Northeast Texas Community College Tournament this weekend.  On Saturday, the Mountaineers defeated North Central Texas College 9-7.  Sunday, Eastern defeated Panola College 6-2 and McLennan Community College 8-6.

Chance Deason (3-1) earned the win with another strong pitching performance against North Central Texas College.  Deason tossed six innings and allowed just three hits and two runs while striking out four.  Out of the bull pen, Seth Terry threw two innings and surrendered just one hit and struck out three.  Nate Pettus came on in the 9th inning to pick ups his third save of the year.  Pettus allowed a run and hit while striking out two.  Offensively, Casey Gibson led the way.  Gibson had three hits, including a double, scored two runs and drove in two.  Jeff Scardino added two hits, one of which being a double and three RBI’s.

On Sunday, Eastern received another strong pitching performance to defeat Panola College.  Ashton Mowdy (2-1) picked up his second win of the year in five innings of work.  Mowdy allowed just two hits and struck out six.  Phillip Parcell tossed two scoreless innings of relief without allowing a hit or run and added three strike outs.  For the second straight game, the Mountaineer offense tagged their opponent with four runs in the 1st inning.  Steve Irvine led the way by going 3-4 at the plate.  Irvine doubled, scored a run, drove in one and walked.  Gunner Glad added two hits, a run, two RBI’s and a sacrifice fly.

Eastern pulled out a dramatic win in their final game of the tournament.  Trailing McLennan Community College by a score of 6-4 heading into the top of the 9th inning, the Mountaineers rallied for two runs to tie the game.  Then in the 10th inning, Eastern added two more runs to defeat McLennan 8-6.  For the fourth straight game, Eastern scored runs in the 1st inning.  Casey McCollum led the offense with four hits and three runs scored.  Steve Irvine added a 2-4 with a double, two runs and a RBI.  Dearth Parker went 3-4 with two walks, a run scored and two RBI’s.  On the mound, the Mountaineer bull pen pitched 5.1 innings of scoreless relief to assist in the come from behind victory.  Carter Browning threw 3.1 innings and allowed just one hit while striking out two.  Seth Terry got three up, three down in the 9th inning.  Terry struck out two.  Nate Pettus came on in the 10th inning to earn his third save in three days and fourth of the year.  Pettus did not allow a hit and he struck out two batters.

The Mountaineers will take the field again on Friday, March 7th when they will host Northeast Texas Community College at 2:00 pm.  Then on Saturday, they will travel to Texarkana College for a 1:00 pm double header.