First day of Region IX final four baseball tournament postponed by rain
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The opening round of the Region IX final four tournament scheduled to start Thursday was postponed because of weather. The games will be pushed back to Friday.
tero Junior College plays Southeast at noon Friday followed by Western Nebraska vs. McCook at 2 p.m. (CT).
Otero Junior College will play Southeast Community College in the opening game Friday at noon (CT). The Rattlers are 23-33 overall and finished second in the Empire Conference South division and is the only team from the south left in post-season play. They opened the cross-division playoffs with a 2-1 best-of-three series win over Northeastern Junior College last weekend. Southeast (38-15) finished atop the North Division and received a bye into the round of four, when Luna Community College was unable to compete in post-season play because of a coaching eligibility issue.
MCC (35-21) finished second in the north behind SECC and swept Lamar last weekend in the cross-division playoffs winning 12-2 and 20-13. MCC hit six home runs last weekend and remain No. 6 in the nation with 87 home runs. The team is also in the top 10 in the nation in doubles (eighth with 131), ninth in extra base hits (235) and 12th in both runs (527) and walks (308).
Western Nebraska (17-33) finished last in the north conference but swept the top seed in the south, Trinidad last weekend 24-12 and 13-9.
MCC and Western played six times this season (three games in each city). After losing the first game of the year April 7 at Scottsbluff 9-1, MCC took the next two games 13-5 and 7-5. When the two teams faced off in McCook on the last weekend of April, MCC swept those games 6-5, 13-4 and 12-5.
Three games are set for Saturday with the championship game(s) set for Sunday.
The Region IX winner will host the Western District tournament May 18-20. Southeast has already qualified for the Western District tournament as two teams from Region IX will make the tournament.
For all the up-to-date information on MCC baseball this season including up-to-date scheduling changes, statistics, rosters and photos, please visit the official website of MCC Athletics at mccindians.com
REGION IX CROSS - DIVISION
Best-Of-Three Series
MAY 4
Otero JC 13, Northeastern JC 3, 7-innings, (at Otero)
MAY 5
McCook 12, Lamar 2 (at McCook)
Northeastern JC 10, Otero JC 5 (at Otero)
Otero JC 3, Northeastern JC 1 (at Otero); Otero wins series 2-1
Western Nebraska 24, Trinidad State 12, (at Trinidad)
MAY 6
McCook 20, Lamar 13 (at McCook); McCook wins series 2-0
Western Nebraska 13, Trinidad State 9 (at Trinidad). Western wins series 2-0
REGION IX TOURNAMENT
FINAL FOUR
(All times MT)
FRIDAY
Game 1 - Otero JC (23-33 overall 16-21 in Region IX), vs. Southeast CC (38-15, 27-7), noon
Game 2 - Western Nebraska (17-33, 13-19) vs. McCook CC (35-21, 22-12), 3 p.m.
SATURDAY
Game 3 – Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, noon
Game 4 – Game 1 loser vs. Game 3 loser, 3 p.m.
Game 5 – Game 3 loser vs Game 4 winner, 6 p.m.
SUNDAY
Game 6 – Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 7 (If Necessary) – Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser, 4 p.m.