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Complete Forecast for  Jul 09 2008

By JOE BUIE
Staff Writer

McKINNEY — Tyler Junior College is halfway toward accomplishing a monumental task.

The Apaches slugged five home runs Saturday night to beat Eastfield, 11-5, and advance to the championship round of the District C Tournament at Gabe Nesbitt Field.

The win was TJC’s second of the day in the loser’s bracket, where one more loss would send the Apaches home. Instead, the defending champions eliminated both North Arkansas and Eastfield.

To send Richland home, the Apaches (32-20) must defeat their arch nemesis twice. The Thunderducks (37-21) are 2-0 in the double-elimination tournament, including Saturday’s 5-1 triumph that sent Eastfield into the loser’s bracket.

TJC hardly broke a sweat in Saturday’s noon game, a 14-1 pounding of North Arkansas in one hour and 16 minutes.

The extra rest seemed to benefit the Apaches, who homered in four of the first seven innings and never trailed against Eastfield.

Jordon Vierra hit a solo shot in the top of the first to give TJC a 1-0 lead into third. In that inning, Brandyn Greer tagged his third home run of the weekend — a two-run dinger into the wind in right field to score Kegan Johnson.

Mike McCollum, who went 4-for-4 with three RBIs, ripped a solo homer two spots later to make it 4-0.

Meanwhile, sophomore right-hander Cooper Page pitched out of a few jams and more importantly, left Eastfield slugger Travis Graves standing in the on-deck circle with two on in the fifth with TJC leading 7-3.

Graves hit a two-run bomb in the fourth and a solo homer in the eighth to account for all but two runs for the Harvesters.

Page (6-2) ended up pitching a complete game with 10 strikeouts. He avoided facing Graves in the fifth with back-to-back strikeouts on a total of seven pitches.

After Eastfield scored three in the bottom of the fourth, the Apaches got it back with their own three-spot in the fifth off Eastfield reliever Austin Good, who hit one batter and walked two more in his short stint.

Steven Headley’s solo home run in the sixth put TJC up 8-3, and Colby Welsh added a two-run shot in the seventh.

In the early game, right-hander Blake Worthen (4-2) and the Apaches dispatched North Arkansas, 14-1.

Worthen, from Robert E. Lee, struck out six and allowed two hits in a five-inning complete game.

When North Arkansas wasn’t making errors, the Apaches were tearing the cover off the ball at the plate.

Steven Headley went 3-for-3, all singles, and drove in three runs to lead TJC’s 10-hit attack. Clint Stroud and Kegan Johnson had two hits apiece.

———

NJCAA District C

Baseball Tournament

At McKinney

Loser’s Bracket

Tyler 14, North Arkansas 1 (5)

North Arkansas 000 01 — 1 2 5

Tyler 047 3x — 14 10 2

Jeremiah Dorey, Dustin Witty (3), Brooks Taylor (4) and Matt Chwalinski. Blake Worthen and Kegan Johnson. W — Worthen (4-2); L — Dorey. 2B — NA: Cory Beeler; TJC: Mike McCollum. HR — TJC: Brandyn Greer (one on, third inning). SAC — TJC: Davis Page. SF — TJC: Page.

Tyler 11, Eastfield 5

Tyler 103 031 201 — 11 15 1

Eastfield 000 300 110 — 5 10 0

Cooper Page and Kegan Johnson. Jonathan Reeder, Austin Good (5), Casey Stone (5), Collin Loftin (8) and Travis Graves. W — Page (6-2); L — Reeder. 2B — EC: Keenan Duke. TJC: Brandyn Greer, Mike McCollum, Wes Smith. 3B — TJC: Johnson. HR — TJC: Jordon Vierra (solo, first inning), Greer (one on, third inning), McCollum (solo, third inning), Steven Headley (solo, sixth inning), Colby Welsh (one on, seventh inning). EC: Graves (one on, fourth inning; solo, eighth inning). SAC — TJC: Davis Page, Welsh. SF — EC: Eric Hill.

RECORDS

— Tyler, 32-20; Eastfield, 32-24.

NEXT UP

— Tyler vs. Richland, noon today, championship round; Eastfield eliminated.

EST. ATT

. — 200.