Richland Rolls by Eastfield into District Championship Round

NJCAA DIII SOUTH CENTRAL DISTRICT TOURNAMENT CENTRAL PAGE

JIMMY BRENNEMAN INTERVIEW

MESQUITE, Texas – Dallas College Richland shut out Dallas College Eastfield, 7-0, in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III South Central District semifinals Saturday at The Hive.

The win sent the sixth-ranked Thunderducks into Sunday's noon championship round against the second-ranked Harvester Bees. It is a rematch of last year's championship round, only this time the tables are turned in the double-elimination tournament.

Richland (39-18) needs one win against Eastfield (46-12) to advance to the NJCAA Division III World Series May 25-30 in Auburn, New York. Last year, the Thunderducks needed two wins in the championship round.

"It's May 19^th, and our guys are still excited showing up to the ballpark," Richland second-year head coach Jimmy Brenneman said. "As long as you can keep the dugout in it, just like in the year, good things tend to happen. So just asking our guys to bring energy every day, especially with it heating up here."

It's heated up alright.

Two of the Top 5 teams throughout much of the season now will decide who advances to the national tournament. Eastfield won the regular season series, 4-2. Saturday's shutout victory was Richland's first over Eastfield since 2013.

Thunderducks starter Jacob Smoot allowed one hit and six walks, while fanning six in seven innings of a shut-down performance to lock up his seventh win of the season.  

"Jacob Smoot's had a lot of great outings this year. He probably had his best one today," Brenneman said. "Just a really good job of filling up the zone with his fastball, keeping his offspeed down in the zone."

Josh Branter worked the final two innings, giving up three hits and no walks to complete the shutout.

Richland picked up its first two runs on a passed ball and a wild pitch with starter Marcus Peters on the bump. It wasn't until the top of the sixth that the Thunderducks manufactured enough offense to put runs on the board that put a dent in Eastfield's plans for a championship round appearance.

"Peters, for Eastfield, he's a really good arm. We were trying to work the count with him," Brenneman said. "Our gameplan was to try to get him out of the game as quick as we could. We were able to get his pitch count up there."

Peters went 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs, three earned, on four hits, five walks and three hit batsmen, while striking out six in the loss.

Kelton Phillips lined a single to left-center, allowing Seth Markham to score to give the Thunderducks a 3-0 lead in the sixth. Nick Hockemeyer followed with a single to the right side, scoring Jouseph Gelpi. Trey Smith hit a three-run home run to right with two outs to deliver the knockout blow in an inning the Thunderducks scored five runs.

"We felt like we just had a really good matchup with Trey Smith right there versus the arm they had out there, and he got a good swing off it," Brenneman said.

It was Smith's 13^th home run of the season.

Teagan Peeples went 2-for-4. Phillips went 1-for-5, and Hockemeyer 1-for-3 with a walk. He and Peeples both were hit by pitches.

Eastfield's Jorge Herrera was 2-for-4, while River Curs went 1-for-3 with a walk. Josh Vaughn and Billy Spratt were both 1-for-3. John Jackson doubled in four trips to the plate.

"They threw their lefty at us, one of the better pitchers in this conference (Dallas Athletic Conference), that's given us some fits earlier in the year when we faced him, and he threw really well," Eastfield 23-year head coach Michael Martin said. "You've got to tip your hat to him, and give him credit. They played well. I don't feel we played our best baseball in that game. We made some errors, made some mistakes that cost us. Not taking anything away from what they did."

Sunday's championship round will air on TSBN.