Eastfield National Runner-Up for Third Straight Year

ALL-TOURNAMENT AWARDS

AUBURN, N.Y. – Dallas College Eastfield fell to Rowan College South Jersey Gloucester, 18-3, in the national championship round of the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III World Series Wednesday.

The Harvester Bees (50-15) finished as the national runner-up for the third straight year.

Eastfield beat Dallas College Richland, 5-4, earlier in the day in the semifinals.

Gloucester, which captured a second straight title to complete a 51-8 campaign, scored seven runs in the opening inning, and built a 14-1 lead after four innings. Eastfield picked up a run in the fifth and sixth innings, but it wasn't enough against the juggernaut Roadrunners, who scored their 18 runs on 18 hits.

The Harvester Bees finished with nine hits.

Josh Vaughn, who singled to center in the fifth to score Michael Caputo, was 1-for-4 with an RBI. JJ Bush and John Jackson each doubled, and River Curs and Jorge Herrera each had a hit, while driving in a run. Herrera singled up the middle to score Payton Poole in the fourth, and Curs singled to center to drive in Bush in the sixth.

Caputo went 2-for-3.

Ernesto Polanco was 5-for-6 with a double and five RBI, while Gavin Degnan, Juan Peralta and Caden Dulin each had three hits, and combined to drive in five runs for Gloucester.

Eastfield catcher Clay Payne threw out Polanco twice.

RCSJ Gloucester's Mason Dobbs (4-2) was credited with the win on the mound after working the final 3.2 innings, allowing just a hit, and striking out six. Harvester Bees starter Tyler Do (11-1) suffered his first loss of the year after surrendering seven runs on six hits.

In the win over Richland, Eastfield scored the game's first three runs in the bottom of the first on Poole's RBI single to center and Bush's two-run homer to right. The Bees added a run in the fifth when Poole drove a ball to left to score Garret Hendricks. That made it 4-0.

Richland (42-20) scored a run in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings to knot the game at 4-4. Kelton Phillips' RBI groundout to shortstop scored Jouseph Gelpi in the sixth. Phillips had a sacrifice fly to left in the seventh that cut the lead in half. Robby Lopez singled to right to drive in Hernan Zamora in the eighth. Teagan Peeples singled to left to score Connor Haelzle to tie the game in the ninth.

But Vaughn's walk-off RBI single to center scored Jonathan Wheeler for the gamewinning run to send the Bees to the championship round, where they would've needed to beat Gloucester twice over two days to claim the title in the double-elimination tournament.

Ryan Dyer (4-2) got the win in relief, working the final two innings, and allowing two runs on four hits. Richland's Vince Ray (3-1) took the loss, allowing a run and a walk over the final inning and a third.

Bush was 2-for-3 with a double and the homer to go along with his two RBI. Poole went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Vaughn went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Curs was 1-for-3 with a stolen base.

Peeples collected three hits and a walk in five plate appearances. Lopez was 3-for-4 with an RBI. Trey Smith went 2-for-4.

Eastfield and Richland each won five games off the other during the season.