January 11, 2010

NORTHEAST BASEBALL GEARS UP FOR OPPONENTS FROM EIGHT STATES

BOONEVILLE, Miss. –  After a record-setting year on the diamond in 2009, Northeast Mississippi Community College head baseball coach Kent Farris has packed his 2010 schedule in hopes of making a return trip to the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) playoffs.

Farris, who led the Tigers to a 33-14 record during the 2009 season, has teams from eight different states on the 2010 Tiger baseball schedule.

Southern teams from Alabama, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana as well as the Magnolia State dot the Tiger schedule as do dates with squads from Illinois, Iowa and Michigan.

During the 2009 season, Northeast’s baseball team hosted a playoff series for the first time since 1992 after sewing up the North Division runner-up slot with a 9-2 win over rival Itawamba Community College on the final day of the regular season.

Northeast will open its 2010 campaign on the road at Hinds Community College in Raymond on Tuesday, February 16 before beginning a six-game home slate against Northwest Shoals (Ala.), Wallace State-Hanceville and John C. Wood (Ill.) Feb. 20-28.

A trek back to Raymond accompanies the Tigers as they take on Hinds once more on Thursday, March 4 before battling Panola, Texas in the nightcap. Panola College finished the 2009 season 37-13 and ranked in the Top 20 in the final National Junior College Athletic Association baseball poll on April 29.

A six-day stretch in March watches as Northeast clocks eight games with five different states starting March 7. Northeast travels to Little Rock, Ark. to battle Arkansas Baptist on Sunday, March 7 before returning to Harold T. White Field in Booneville for a doubleheader against Ellsworth, Iowa on Wednesday, March 10.

Northeast continues its non-division schedule with a trip to Eunice, La., on March 12-13. While in Eunice, Northeast will play Kellogg, Mich., at 3 p.m. before turning around and playing powerhouse Louisiana State University-Eunice (LSU-Eunice) at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 12. The Tigers’ eight-game stretch does not stop there as Northeast and LSU-Eunice battle it out in a doubleheader on Saturday, March 13.

Northeast opens it North Division schedule with Northwest Miss. Community College on Wednesday, March 17 before entering another eight-game stretch in six days with away contests at East Mississippi (March 20) and Jones County (March 26) sandwiching home dates with Arkansas Baptist on March 22 and Coahoma on March 24.

Northeast fills up the month of April with North Division contests against Holmes, Mississippi Delta, Northwest, East Mississippi, Coahoma and a host date with Itawamba on April 24 before capping its regular season on Saturday, May 1 as the Tigers host Mississippi Delta for sophomore day.

Prior to last year’s first round host of Jones County Junior College, Northeast last hosted a playoff series in 1992 when the Tigers captured the North Division title under the tutelage of first-year head coach Ray Scott with a 20-23 record but a 14-6 mark in the league. Northeast’s division championship earned the Tigers the right to host Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College for a best-of-three state championship series and gained the Tigers their first ever Region XXIII Tournament appearance.

With a split against Itawamba Community College in Fulton on the final day of the regular season, Northeast locked up the North Division runner-up slot and a chance to host the first round of the MACJC state tournament. Northeast turned the trick against Itawamba for the first time since 2004 in knocking off the nation’s fifth-ranked team 9-2 in the nightcap at Crabaugh Field.
 
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