We are getting down to the nitty gritty in the NJCAA postseason as after this weekend the ten teams that will be in the NJCAA D1 Championship that will begin on Saturday, May 25.

That included the South Central District Champion who will be decided between our Seminole State Trojans from Region 2 and the Crowder Roughriders from Region 16.

The best of 3 series will be held at Seminole State with game 1 on Friday at 3:00 p.m., game 2 on Saturday at 3:00 p.m., and game 3 on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. (if necessary).

These two teams played a double header in Neosho way back on February 20 with Crowder winning both games 3-0, 12-2.

Let’s take a look at the two teams.

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Seminole State Trojans

• Region: 2
• Record: 39-14
• Region Record/Finish: 18-6/T 1st
• Current ranking: RV

The Trojans may not be ranked, but it is safe to say that no other team in the country is as hot as Seminole is coming into this series. After dropping 2 straight to Connors State and a 3rd game to Western, the Trojans had a record of 15-12 on March 19. Since that day, Seminole has won 24 of their last 26 games including a 14 game winning streak from March March 25-April 18.

The story of the year for the Trojans has been Caden Powell of Clinton. Powell leads the nation in the triple crown categories: .514 AVG, 32 HR, 104 RBI.

Powell is not the only player having a great season. Tarris Murray (16) and Noah Smallwood (10) both have double digit HRs and 8 Trojans have at least 30+ RBI.

Gio DeGraauw has led the Trojans on the bump as he leads the team in innings pitched and strikeouts with his K/9 ratio the 2nd best on the team.

Team Batting
AVG .329/OBP .449/SLG .586, 101 HR, 464 RBI, 562 R

Team Pitching (53 Games)
ERA 5.34, WHIP 1.54, R 303, ER 248, 382 K, 234 BB

Team Leaders (Batting)
– Caden Powell: .514/.573/1.119, 32 HR, 104 RBI
– Grayson Childers: .303/.419/.466, 6 HR, 36 RBI
– Hunter Dearman: .335/.442/.486, 4 HR, 50 RBI
– Noah Smallwood: .319/.453/.639, 10 RBI, 42 RBI
– Tarris Murray: .347/.492/.771, 16 HR, 40 RBI
– Gage Dollins: .331/.487/.541, 7 HR, 40 RBI

Team Leaders (Pitching)
– Gio DeGraauw (G/GS, 17/12) 7-1, 60.1 IP, 4.92 ERA, 69 K, 33 BB
– Blaine Zeplin (G/GS, 12/7) 7-1, 59.1 IP, 6.22 ERA, 55 K, 41 BB
– Bauer Brittain (G/GS, 20/2) 6-2, 55 IP, 4.25 ERA, 41 K, 20 BB

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Crowder College Roughriders

• Region: 6
• Record: 47-13
• Region Record/Finish: 19-4/1st
• Current ranking: #7

The Roughriders come into Districts as the 7th ranked team nationally. They are 17-4 since the start of April and went 5-0 in the Region 16 Tournament.

Crowder has two players in the top 20 nationally in RBIs – Joey Morton (83) and Cole Kitchens (71). In fact, the Roughriders have two more with at least 60 RBI, another with at least 50, one with at least 40, and 6 more with at least 20. So they’ve shown they know how to get the runners in when they get on base.

On the bump, Crowder has 3 horses they rely on to start: Jackson Murry, Ashton Branson, and Tanner Nolan. Branson has six complete games.

Team Batting
AVG .349/OBP .472/SLG .560, 76 HR, 566 RBI, 649 R

Team Pitching
ERA 4.85, WHIP 1.50, R 302, ER 234, 517 K, 224 BB

Team Leaders (Batting)
– Joey Morton: .387/.473/.652, 14 HR, 83 RBI
– Cole Kitchens: .378/.494/.584, 8 HR, 71 RBI
– Kolten Reynolds: .372/.483/.655 10 HR, 67 RBI
– Ethan Fender: .382/.473/.558, 6 HR, 65 RBI

Team Leaders (Pitching)
– Jackson Murry: (G/GS, 15/13) 10-2, 69 IP, 4.70 ERA, 81 K, 24 BB
– Ashton Branson: (G/GS, 14/14) 6-5, 66 IP, 6.27 ERA, 96 K, 30 BB
– Tanner Nolan: (G/GS, 13/11) 8-0, 55 IP, 4.25 ERA, 65 K, 22 BB

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Scores

• Game 1, Fri/3:00: Seminole St 2 Crowder 11
• Game 2, Sat/3:00: Seminole St 2 Crowder 8
• Game 3, Sun/2:00: If necessary

South Central District Champion: Crowder Roughriders

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