NCMC baseball went 3-1 on their spring break trip to Tennessee to improve their overall record to 14-4 ahead of Region 16 play.  The Pirates will open that league schedule on Saturday and Sunday when they travel to East Central College.  Saturday's games will be played in Washington, MO at Rosnick Field and Sunday will be at CarShield Field in O'Fallon, MO due to weather related field damage for ECC.

In a doubleheader with Motlow State CC, the Pirates split with the host Bucks.  In the opener, NCMC's pitching could not find the tight strike zone, walking 13 over 4 innings.  This led to a 15-0 loss and freshman Max Wager's first of the year.  Game two saw the Pirates rebound behind strong pitching performances from Luis Leon (4.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 K), Alex Smith (2.0 IP, 2 K) and Wilmer Jimenez (0.1 IP, 1 K).  Offensively, NCMC was anchored by Jordi Ventura's 2-2 day at the plate.  Javier Suarez was also instrumental in the game's success, going 1-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

At Dyersburg State CC, the Pirates got a sweep in two tightly contested games.  The opener took extra innings for NCMC to prevail 9-5.  Wilmer Jimenez knocked his 7^th homer of the year plus scored a pair of runs and knocked in three.  Shodai Nishihara had an outstanding offensive performance, going 4-5 with a double and 2 runs scored.  The biggest hit of the game came from freshman Eduardo Chourio as he knocked in the games tying run in the top of the 7^th to inevitably send it to extras.  Picking up the win in relief was Ethan Walker who allowed 2 earned runs over 3 innings pitched.  Jimenez picked up the save with a perfect 8^th inning to seal the victory.

A pitcher's duel was the name of the game for the final contest of the trip.  NCMC notched the 2-1 win behind a strong start from Eric Torrero.  He twirled 4.2 innings and surrendered just one run, a solo homer.  Jordi Ventura picked up his second save of the year with a scoreless frame in the 7^th.  Leading the offense was Nishihara who went 1-3 with a double.  The games decisive run came Alejandro Paz who led off the 6^th with a single.  He advanced the third following Javier Suarez's single and was driven in by a sacrifice fly from Julio Guerrero.