Centerville, IA – The 2023 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI Baseball Region 11 Tournament is set to get underway Thursday afternoon at Pat Daugherty Field.
DETAILS: 2023 NJCAA DI Baseball Region 11 Tournament
- Schedule, Video, Live Stats, Results
ADMISSION: $5.00 General Admission | $10.00 Tournament Pass | IHCC Faculty/Staff/Students: Free with ID
FIRST PITCH FORECAST (THURSDAY): 75 degrees, mostly cloudy, 45% chance of rain
FIRST PITCH FORECAST (FRIDAY): 72 degrees, cloudy, 21% chance of rain
WATCH LIVE: GoHillsTV
LIVE STATS: Game 1 (IWCC vs. MCC) | Game 2 (IHCC vs. SWCC)
The three-day, four-team, double-elimination NJCAA DI Baseball Region 11 Tournament opens up play Thursday afternoon in Centerville with a pair of games at Pat Daugherty Field. No. 1 overall seed Iowa Western will host No. 4 seed Marshalltown at 1:00 PM followed by No. 2 Indian Hills vs. No. 3 Southwestern at 4:00 PM.
BREAKING DOWN THE BRACKET
Iowa Western (36-12, 21-12) claimed the Division I regular season title for the 18th consecutive season and will enter the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed for the eighth consecutive year. Tournament host Indian Hills (30-19, 19-14) earned the No. 2 overall seed followed by No. 3 Southwestern (18-32, 10-23), and No. 4 Marshalltown (8-39, 4-29).
Iowa Western and Marshalltown will match up in the opening game of the tournament at 1:00 PM on Thursday followed by Indian Hills and Southwestern at 4:00 PM.
The opening round losers will meet in an elimination game at 12:00 PM Friday followed by the Game 1 and Game 2 winners at 3:00 PM Friday. Game 5 between the loser's bracket winner and the Game 4 loser will face off in an elimination game at 6:00 PM Friday night. The championship game will take place at 1:00 PM Saturday with an if necessary game to follow.
SCOUTING THE FIELD
The four-team tournament features a pair of fifth-year head coaches in Matthew Torrez of Indian Hills and Anthony Everman of Marshalltown while Iowa Western's Ryan Cougill and Southwestern's Chris Piperno will be making their first appearance at the NJCAA Region 11 Tournament.
- Iowa Western enters the tournament as the top hitting team with a .334 batting average and a league-high 421 runs scored. The Reivers rank 13th nationally with 147 stolen bases. On the mound, the Reivers have tossed six shutouts, 17th most in the country. Brayden Smith (.423 avg., 11 HR, 51 RBI) and Ryan Reyerson (6-0, 1.78 ERA, 42 K's) will lead the Reivers into the postseason.
- Indian Hills brings the lowest ERA to the tournament with a 4.62 mark in league games this year. Offensively, the Warriors are hitting .313 in 33 league game this year while the club has stolen 110 bases on the year. Sophomores Daniel Figueroa (.343 avg., 41 stolen bases, 53 runs), Jack Nelson (6-3, 2.94 ERA, 73 K's), and Sam Hart (1-1, 9 saves, 1.50 ERA) carry the Warriors into the tournament.
- Southwestern boasts four players hitting over .300 on the year, led by Eric Bello's .361 average and Jesus Riera's .345 clip. Isaiah Faudoa leads Southwestern in wins (4), innings pitched (46.1), and strikeouts (30). The Spartans are the lone DI team to beat Iowa Western in the regular season.
- Marshalltown is led by Miguel Padron's team-high .374 batting average on the year while Austin Gurney and Kyle Magdic have boasted above .300 batting clips throughout the year. Ryan Gouldin has connected on 10 home runs this year while throwing out a league-high 16 runners from behind the plate.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The state of Iowa has a long history of success in the NJCAA DI Baseball postseason. Iowa Western has earned 19 all-time appearances at the JUCO World Series with three national titles while Indian Hills owns 12 all-time appearances. Over the last 20 years, Indian Hills and Iowa Western have combined to represent NJCAA Region 11 at the JUCO World Series 15 times.
Iowa Western took the 2022 region title in a winner-take-all victory over Indian Hills. The Warriors captured the 2021 NJCAA Region 11 Championship and advanced through the District tournament to earn its first JUCO World Series appearance since 2004.
Indian Hills owns 17 all-time NJCAA Region 11 Championships dating back to 1969 and own 12 District championships.
WHAT'S NEXT
The winner of the NJCAA Region 11 Tournament will earn an automatic bid to the four-team NJCAA Midwest District Tournament and will serve as the tournament host. The NJCAA Region 11 winner will host the winner from NJCAA Region 4 (IL) and the the winner and runner-up from NJCAA Region 24 (IL). The NJCAA Midwest District Tournament will run from May 17-19 with the winner advancing to the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, CO May 23-June 3.
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