Baseball Finishes Season at Region IX Tournament
May. 13, 2019, Sterling, Colo. — The Northeastern baseball team qualified as the three seed for the Region IX tournament that was held in Trinidad, Colo. this past weekend. The top four teams played in the tournament with the winner advancing to the district tournament. The first day was set to kick off on Thursday, but in true Colorado fashion, snow and rain pushed the first game to the following day.
The first game was against the Lamar Lopes, who the Plainsmen went 2-4 in the season with. Staying in the winner's bracket would be essential for the Plainsmen, and the Lopes was the first step in doing that. The teams battled and pushed extra innings, where Northeastern eventually fell 3-2. The pitching was strong on both sides as the game was tied 1-1 after the second inning until the eleventh. Lamar scored first in the bottom of the first, but Northeastern tied it in the second when Carter Allen doubled, scoring Ben Newton. The defense for both teams played phenomenally and forced extra innings. Northeastern broke the tie to go up one when Jaxon Rosencranz singled on a line drive to left, scoring Davyn Adamscheck. In the bottom half of that inning, the Lopes took advantage of an error by the Plainsmen and were able to score two, winning the game 3-2. Cole Halpin started the game on the mound and received a no-decision with six strikeouts. Jayden Smith relieved and took the loss on the mound with one strikeout.
That loss matched them up with the Trinidad State Trojans, who the Plainsmen also went 2-4 in the season series with. The Plainsmen were not worried about how the season games went because it was post-season which meant it was going to be a battle. The game was another defensive showcase with pitchers and fielders alike, but Northeastern eventually fell 3-1. The Plainsmen scored first in in the fourth inning when Rosencranz scored off Allen's sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the fourth, Trinidad took the 2-1 off a two-run home run. The Trojans scored the final run in the fifth off another home run. Tanner Schoeninger took the loss for the Plainsmen with Juan Esparza coming in to relieve.
The Plainsmen finished the season with a 29-27 overall record and went 20-16 in conference play. In addition, they had six players earn postseason accolades.