Eastfield Races by Brookhaven to Reach District Championship

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

MESQUITE, Texas – Dallas College Eastfield jumped out to an eight-run lead in the second inning, and never looked back in a 12-4 win over Dallas College Brookhaven in eight innings in a National Junior College Athletic Association Division III South Central District semifinal elimination game Friday.

The fourth-ranked Harvester Bees (45-13) advance to Saturday's 12 p.m. championship round against eighth-ranked Dallas College Richland (34-22). The Bees, who lost to the Thunderducks earlier in the day, will need to beat Richland twice to win the district title.

It will be the fourth straight year the two Dallas Athletic Conference schools will meet in the district championship round.

In the win over No. 13 Brookhaven, Eastfield scored three runs in the first – the last of which on Erik Aguirre's two-out RBI triple to center. The Harvesters cashed in for five more in the second. Sebastian Palma ripped a run-scoring double to right, and Michael Caputo had an RBI single to center in the five-hit inning.

The Bees carried that eight-run lead into the fourth before Brandon Sheets' sacrifice fly to right scored Palma, who led off the inning with a single up the middle. Caputo bunted his way on and Aguirre singled to load the bases before Sheets drove in the ninth run.

Brookhaven (34-26) picked up two runs in the fifth on Mason Gilliam's pinch-hit single to make it 9-2. The Bears used an run-scoring single up the middle by Payton Stephenson and a sacrifice fly to right by Nash Nichols to cut the gap to five in the eighth.

But Eastfield put the game away in the bottom half of the inning on Sammy Blanco's RBI double to left-center, a single by Garret Hendricks and the game-ending two-run triple to center by Angel Gutierrez.

Caputo was 4 for 4 with an RBI and a walk. Aguirre was 3 for 4 with a double, triple, an RBI and a walk. Gutierrez went 3 for 6 with four stolen bases. Luke Sasser was 2 for 4 with two stolen bases. Palma went 2 for 4 with two RBI. Blanco was 2 for 5 with an RBI. Hendricks went 2 for 5.   

Brookhaven's Brett Petillo went 3 for 4. Dalton Stanley was 2 for 2. Abraham Fortis was 2 for 4. Brady Breedlove was 1 for 2.

Eastfield starter Benjamin Sheppard went six innings, allowing two runs on seven hits and two walks to improve to a nation-leading 11-2.

The winner of Saturday's championship earns an automatic berth to the NJCAA Division III World Series May 24-29 at Falcon Park in Auburn, New York. Eastfield is the three-time defending national runner-up.