Delgado to Host 2011 NJCAA South Central District Tournament

Fresh of a Region 23 championship victory over Baton Rouge Community College on Sunday, the Delgado Community College baseball team will turn its focus on another weekend at its “friendly confines” with a trip to the Junior College World Series at stake.

Eastern Oklahoma State College of Wilburton, Okla., and Jefferson College of Hillsboro, Mo., will make the trip south to Kirsch-Rooney Stadium this weekend for the NJCAA South Central District tournament.

The tournament will follow the same format as the Region 23 tournament, with a round-robin on Friday followed by the championship round on Saturday and, if necessary, Sunday.

On Friday, Delgado (40-15) will meet Eastern Oklahoma at 1 p.m. and Jefferson at 4 p.m. Eastern Oklahoma and Jefferson will meet in the day’s final game at 7 p.m.

The Dolphins went 3-1 in the Region 23 tournament, capped off by an 8-6 victory over Baton Rouge Sunday to claim their fourth region title in five years.

All three teams are ranked in last week’s Perfect Game JUCO Top 50 – Eastern Oklahoma at No. 31, Jefferson at No. 40 and Delgado at No. 43.

Eastern Oklahoma (37-20) went undefeated in the Region 2 tournament, defeating Northeastern Oklahoma A&M 7-6 in the championship game on a two-run homer by Sam King in the bottom of the ninth. The Mountaineers had gone just 5-7 in their last 12 games prior to the tournament.

King drove in a team-high eight runs in four tournament games last weekend.

Jefferson (41-19) bounced back to defeat top-seeded Crowder 2-0 in the championship game of the Region 16 tournament. Earlier in the day, Crowder had forced a second championship game by routing Jefferson 13-4.

The title-game win over Crowder was Jefferson’s third shutout of the tournament.

Jefferson opened its season against Delgado’s Region 23 rival, Meridian Community College, and swept a four-game series from the Eagles.

Delgado has faced both schools in the district tournament in recent years.

In 2007, the Dolphins defeated Jefferson twice, including a 6-5 victory in the championship game, as they advanced to their first Junior College World Series in 22 years and their first under head coach Joe Scheuermann.

Last year, Delgado eliminated Eastern Oklahoma before falling to Crowder (Mo.) College in the district championship game.

All three teams have made World Series appearances in the last decade. Besides Delgado’s trip in 2007, Eastern Oklahoma reached the World Series in 2001 and Jefferson made the trip to Grand Junction, Colo., a year later.