OFFICIAL INDIAN HILLS BASEBALL REGION CHAMPIONSHIP APPAREL
Centerville, IA – For the 18th time in program history, the Indian Hills Baseball team captured the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI Baseball Region 11 Championship. The Warriors knocked off top-seeded and No. 20 nationally ranked Iowa Western Community College 5-2 in 10 innings to take the title.
With the region championship, the Warriors advance to the NJCAA DI Baseball Midwest District Championship, a four-team double-elimination tournament where Indian Hills will serve as host at Pat Daugherty Field. The Warriors have now won two of the last three NJCAA Region 11 titles.
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— Indian Hills Baseball (@IHCCBaseball) May 14, 2023
For the second time in as many days, the Warriors used a big inning to power past Iowa Western, this time a three-run 10th inning to eliminate the defending region champs. The Warriors move to 33-19 on the year after sweeping all three games of the region tournament at Pat Daugherty Field.
The Warriors saw a platoon of impressive performances from its pitching staff, highlighted by starter Greg Campos (Laredo, TX/United South) who allowed just two hits in 4.2 innings of work. Campos was backed by scoreless appearances from Carlos Valenzuela (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Global Life Vision), Jason Schaaf (Las Vegas, NV/Palo Verde), and closer Sam Hart (Highlands Ranch, CO/ThunderRidge).
Offensively, the Warriors were once again led by sophomore Adrian Vargas (Caracas, Venezuela/Instituto Central de Educacion Ice) whose remarkable postseason play continued with a 2-4 performance, including the go-ahead RBI in the 10th. Freshman Miguel Salazar (Sentaines, Venezuela/San Luis) added a pair of base hits while sophomore Sergio Chavez (Laredo, TX/John B. Alexander) scored two of the team's five runs.
The region title is the second under head coach Matthew Torrez who led the Warriors to the 2021 championship on their way to the JUCO World Series.
After earning two victories on the opening two days of play at the region tournament, the Warriors found themselves in the driver's seat vs. Iowa Western on Sunday, needing just one win to advance while the Reivers, playing out of the loser's bracket, needed to win twice. After two scoreless frames to open the game, the Reivers, playing as the home team as the top seed in the tournament, struck first with a run in the bottom of the third.
Indian Hills responded immediately with a run in the top half of the fourth as Merrick Mathews (Centerville, IA/Centerville) scored on a Luis Martinez (Vega Baja, PR/El Shaddai Christian Academy) sacrifice fly to right. Freshman Dylan Sayles (Rockton, IL/Hononegah) put the Warriors ahead on the very next at bat with an RBI groundout to score Chavez and give Indian Hills the 2-1 lead.
Iowa Western responded with a run in the bottom of the fifth, but Valenzuela was able to limit the damage out of the bullpen for the Warriors. The freshman right hander kept the Reivers scoreless over the next three frames before giving way to Schaaf in the bottom of the ninth with one out.
Schaaf, who held Iowa Western hitless for 3.2 innings on Saturday, retired both batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth with two runners on, including a strike out to push the championship bout to extra innings.
One day removed from putting together a seven-run inning against the Reivers, the Warrior offense came to life in the 10th on Sunday. A one out single followed by a stolen base from Raul Torres (Caguas, Puerto Rico/Leadership Christian Academy) and a walk to Chavez put a pair of runners on base. Vargas, who entered the game with six hits over the last two days, lined a pitch to right field to score Torres and the go-ahead run.
An Iowa Western error led to another run for the Warriors before Sayles used a safety squeeze bunt base hit to third to bring in Vargas for a 5-2 lead.
The Warriors called its top arm out of the bullpen in Hart for the third consecutive day. The sophomore saw a pair of Reivers reach base, but Hart baffled the final batter of the game with a strikeout looking to tally his third save of the tournament and clinch the region title.
Vargas closed out the tournament 8-13 at the plate with four RBI, four extra base hits, and a pair of runs scored. Hart picked up his 12th save of the year, the second-most in the nation this season.
Indian Hills will now play host to the District tournament comprised of the NJCAA Region 4 champion South Suburban College (IL) and NJCAA Region 24 champion Wabash Valley College (IL) and runner-up John A. Logan College (IL). The tournament gets underway at Pat Daugherty Field in Centerville on Wednesday, May 17 with Wabash Valley and John A. Logan playing at 12:00 PM followed by Indian Hills and South Suburban at 3:00 PM.
The winner of the three-day tournament will earn an automatic bid to the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, CO May 27-June 3.
The Warriors are hosting the District tournament for the first time since 2004.
Back where it belongs... at PDF⚾️
— Indian Hills Baseball (@IHCCBaseball) May 14, 2023
For the 18th time in program history, your Warriors are the @NJCAABaseball Region 11 champions!#WarriorNation pic.twitter.com/neDE21kHqf
