Plano, Tx- Coastal Bend College Baseball, recently won the 2021 NJCAA Division III South District West Divisional Tournament this past weekend. The Cougars won three games, beating North Lake College, 2-3 in the opening round. For their next game, Coastal Bend faced #3 nationally ranked, and top seeded, Brookhaven College. In a slugfest, the Cougars would pull out a 10-6 victory over the Bears. On Saturday, CBC advanced to the Championship Game where they went up against, Brookhaven College again. Brookhaven beat North Lake College the round before, to advance to the Championship Game. The Cougars scored early and did not look back, as they went on to win the ball game and their first ever regional tournament championship, 9-3.
CBC baseball faced the North Lake College Blazers in the opening round of the NJCAA Division III South District Tournament. The Cougars would be the second game of the day, following the Brookhaven College Bears and Cedar Valley College Suns contest. The Bears wound up beating the Suns, 12-4 in eight innings.
For the Cougars, they found themselves in a dog-fight. Both teams were pitching and defending their positions well for the five innings. During the Top of the Sixth inning, the Blazers struck first with a two run home run.
Coastal Bend held their ground and did not back down. After being held scoreless for the first seven inning, CBC Shortstop, Bret Copeland led off the team with a solo home run to cut the Blazer deficit in half. A few batters later, Center Fielder, JB Trees, hit a single into shallow Left Field for the Cougars. First Baseman, Ruben Sepulveda worked the count for a few pitches before crushing a pitch over the Right Field fence. Sepulvelda's home run would score Trees, putting the Cougars in the lead, 2-3.
Right Handed Pitcher, Preston Allen and company would shut the door on the Blazers in the Top of the Ninth to seal the victory. Allen pitched 6 complete innings for the Cougars, striking out 10 batters, allowing no walks. During his outing, he surrendered four hits and gave up two runs while facing 22 opposing batters in the Win over the North Lake Blazers. Allen chalked up his third win of the season for CBC.
For the second round of the tournament, Coastal Bend faced the #1 seeded, Brookhaven College Bears. In what would be a game full of scoring from both ball clubs, the Cougars found themselves on the winning end of this contest.
Second Baseman, Isaiah Aguilar came up to the dish in the Top of the Second inning with the bases loaded. After a few pitches, Aguilar smacked a pitch into deep Left Center Field for a Grand Slam to put the Cougars up, 4-0.
In the Bottom of the Third inning, Brookhaven scored six runs to jump ahead of the Cougars. The Bears hit a solo Home Run, RBI Double and a Grand Slam of their own to take the lead.
Not to be out done, the Cougars continued swinging the bat. Outfielder, Ryan Davenport and Aguilar helped tie the ball game up at six with RBI Singles.
The Cougars worked quickly in the Bottom of the Sixth to get back in the batter's box. Designated Hitter, Ruben Sepulveda led off the Top of the Seventh with a Double. First Baseman, Eric Martinez put CBC in the lead, 8-6 when he hit a two-run Homer over the Right Center wall.
In the Bottom half of the Seventh, CBC worked efficiently and diligently to quiet the Bears bats. Martinez and Zach Seigrist both added insurance runs in the Top of the Eighth inning by hitting RBI Singles. The Cougars held a 10-6 lead following the Top half of the Eighth inning.
Coastal Bend Relief Pitcher, Hudson Oliver finished out the remainder of the game on the bump for the Cougars. Oliver pitched six complete innings with eight strikeouts, No Walks. During his outing he faced 20 batters and allowed three Hits in the 10-6 victory over Brookhaven. The win for Oliver would be his second of the year
As the Cougars aimed to capture their first Regional Tournament Championship, they awaited the bout between the North Lake Blazers and the Brookhaven Bears. Falling short of a late inning rally, the Blazers would be eliminated by the Bears, 5-3.
Coastal Bend jumped out to 5-0 lead over the course of the first three innings. Once ahead, the Cougars never looked back. During the Top of the Fifth inning, CBC extended their 5-1 lead to 9-1 with the team going on a hit parade and capitalizing on free bases the Bears provided.
The team collectively scored a total of nine runs as they went on to win the Regional Tournament Championship game, 9-3. Center Fielder, JB Trees and Shortstop, Bret Copeland both produced a game high, two RBI's for their performances at the plate. Eric Martinez, Kane Mendeita and Garrett Whitaker each recorded an RBI to propel the team in victory.
CBC Relief Pitcher, Justin Gomez entered the game in the Bottom of the Fourth frame. Gomez pitched six complete innings during the Region Championship Game. He also recorded six strikeouts, allowed 7 hits with 1 Walk and 2 Runs while facing 27 batters during his outing. Credited with the win, it would mark Gomez' fourth victory of the 2021 campaign.
The Cougars are now set to face Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas for the NJCAA Division III South District Championship with a bid to the NJCAA College World Series on the line. The series begins on Friday, May 14th at 12:00 PM at Mike Carter Field.