HAMMOND, La. — Delgado captured the 2023 NJCAA Region XXIII Division I Championship in walk-off style Saturday with a 4-3, ninth-inning victory over Baton Rouge at Southeastern’s Alumni Field in Hammond.
View the game’s box score and recap here…
Baton Rouge scored first in the first inning when Ethan Menard reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second and third, and scored on a Dolphin error. Delgado answered with a leadoff double by Bryan Broussard in the first, who advanced on a deep fly by Josh Alexander and scored on a balk to tie the game 1-1 through one inning. Collin Dupre’s RBI groundout in the second, plated Thomas Marsala to give Baton Rouge the 2-1 lead.
Both teams remained scoreless through the next five innings, thanks to strong pitching performances by both starters. In the bottom of the eighth, Cade Pregeant and Bryan Broussard reached on leadoff walks before advancing on an infield error, which scored Pregeant to tie the game at two. Broussard would score on a sacrifice fly by Jacob Singletary to give Delgado the 3-2 lead through eight. The lead was short-lived as Baton Rouge’s Braden McLinn homered in the first at-bat of the ninth to knot the game 3-3.
In the bottom of the ninth, Logan O’Neill doubled and Tyler Cook and Cade Pregeant were intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. O’Neill was thrown out at the plate on a pinch-hit fielder’s choice by Cole Stromboe before Josh Alexander singled home Cook to lift Delgado to the 4-3 victory and the 2023 Region XXIII Division I title.
Delgado starter Chris Olivier went the distance on the mound, pitching nine complete innings, four hits, one earned run, two walks, and striking out twelve Bear hitters. Baton Rouge started John Shardar held the Dolphins to one hit in his eight innings of work with Sean Burkhead pitching the ninth.
With the win, Delgado (42-11) sweeps the Region XXIII Tournament with three wins and closes the schedule a perfect 17-0 against conference opponents. The 2023 region title marks the program’s thirteenth consecutive Region XXIII Division I title and sixteenth district berth in the past seventeen seasons.
The team will face the Region II champion (Oklahoma) and the Region XVI champion in the NJCAA South Central District Championship, to be hosted by the Region XVI champion in Missouri May 19-21 with the winner advancing to the NJCAA Division I World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado.
{Courtesy: Delgado Athletics}