Indians Set for Region 23 Tournament at East Central
"We look forward to a great tournament in Decatur," said Coach Slater Lott. "We are excited about the position we have put ourselves in and the guys are eager to put their stamp on postseason play."
FULTON, Miss. – The Indians open the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament on Monday against Northwest at East Central Community College.
The Indians will face the Rangers at 6 p.m. in Game 2 of the East Central pod. ICC enters the tournament 32-17 overall and 19-9 in conference play. Northwest is 31-18 overall and 18-10 in conference play.
"We look forward to a great tournament in Decatur," said Coach Slater Lott. "We are excited about the position we have put ourselves in and the guys are eager to put their stamp on postseason play."
The teams met three times during the regular season. Northwest won a non-conference game 14-12 in February before the teams split their MACCC doubleheader. The Rangers won Game 1, 15-13, and the Indians took Game 2, 10-9.
The East Central pod will be played May 4-8 and includes No. 1 seed East Central, No. 3 Itawamba, No. 6 Northwest, No. 7 East Mississippi and No. 10 Northeast.
East Mississippi and Northeast will play in a single-elimination play-in game at 6 p.m. Sunday, May 4. The winner will advance to the double-elimination bracket and face East Central at 2 p.m. Monday in Game 1.
With a win over Northwest, ICC will play the Game 1 winner at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Game 3. With a loss, the Indians will play the Game 1 loser in an elimination game at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Game 4.
On Wednesday, the Game 3 loser will face the Game 4 winner at 2 p.m. in Game 5. The Game 5 winner will face the Game 3 winner at 6 p.m. Wednesday for the tournament championship. If a second championship game is necessary, it will be played at 4 p.m. Thursday.
The East Central pod winner will face the Pearl River pod winner in the best-of-three NJCAA Super Regional 23 Championship beginning May 13.
ICC enters postseason play hitting .346 as a team with 534 hits, 106 doubles, 12 triples, 84 home runs and 442 RBI. The Indians have scored 501 runs, stolen 76 bases and carry a .465 on-base percentage with a .593 slugging percentage.
Reid Kent leads ICC with 82 hits, 16 home runs, 65 RBI and 74 runs scored while hitting .425. Madden Butler is hitting .439 with 69 hits, 14 doubles, 12 home runs and 58 RBI, and Cannon Graham is hitting .397 with 71 hits, 15 doubles, 11 home runs and 60 RBI.
Brody Thompson adds a .377 average with 17 doubles, 12 home runs and 42 RBI. Tre Gunn has 11 home runs and 45 RBI and Will Caviness has driven in 51 runs.
On the mound, Andrew Williams is 7-0 with a 3.56 ERA, 65 strikeouts and two saves in 55.2 innings. Jack Howell is 6-1 with 59 strikeouts in 54.1 innings, while Solomon Smith has made 16 appearances and six starts. Scott Green has a 2.13 ERA and one save in 10 appearances.
Day passes are $15, and cash will be accepted at the gate. Tournament passes are $45. Online tickets can be purchased at ECCCAthletics.com/tickets. State passes will be accepted.
ECCCAthletics.com/Region23 is the official tournament website. Updated schedule, directions, livestream information, photos and more can be found there.
East Central will livestream all tournament games for free at ECCClive.com/gold.
