Eastfield Baseball Moves on at World Series

BRACKET | CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Dallas College Eastfield's baseball team won the opening game at the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III World Series Saturday, beating Oakton Community College 9-1 in eight innings.

The No. 1-ranked Harvester Bees (45-13) advance to play Alexandria Technical & Community College (39-9) in Sunday's 6:15 p.m. second round. Saturday's games were pushed back due to weather in the TVA Credit Union Ballpark area.

Eastfield scored in each of the second-fifth innings to take a 5-1 lead the Owls could not recover from. Sergio Gastelum belted two home runs, carrying on his blazing hot postseason performance. He's crushed five home runs in the past two games. Sebastian Palma also cranked a home run. He and Gastelum went back-to-back in the third inning to put Eastfield up 3-1.

Angel Gutierrez doubled in a run in the fourth to extend the lead to three, and Gastelum cranked his second solo shot on a 3-2 count in the bottom of the fifth to make it 5-1. Erik Aguirre's RBI single in the seventh, and Billy Spratt's run-scoring double in the three-run eighth sealed the deal.

Gastelum went 3 for 4 with two RBI. Aguirre was 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI. Spratt was 2 for 2 with two RBI. Sebastian Vasquez went 3 for 4. Gutierrez was 2 for 5.

Harvester Bees starter Braden Castle (4-3) went six innings, giving up a second inning solo homer, two other hits and three walks, and struck out five in the win. Cooper Sexton worked the final two innings, allowing a hit and a walk to help the Bees end the game early.

Eastfield had 10 more hits than Oakton (26-28) in a game where the Bees hit over .500 in two-out RBI situations. The Harvesters scored five runs with two outs.

Oakton's Matthew Leahy provided the Owls with their lone run – a solo homer in the second. Oakton committed three errors, including the game-sealing mistake off the bat of Eastfield center fielder Luke Sasser, who reached third on the play, allowing the final two runs to score.

Spratt drove in runs in the first and last innings the Harvester Bees scored.