Centerville, IA – The 2022 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XI DI Baseball Tournament gets underway Thursday at Pat Daugherty Field. The four-team tournament, hosted by Indian Hills, opens up at 1:00 PM.

LEADING OFF

The 2022 Region XI Tournament serves as the initial step on the way to an automatic bid to the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, CO. Iowa Western enters the weekend as the No. 1 overall seed followed by No. 2 seed Indian Hills, No. 3 Marshalltown, and No. 4 Southwestern. The winner of the three-day tournament will punch their ticket to the NJCAA Midwest District Tournament hosted by the NJCAA Region XXIV winner in Illinois. The winner of the District tournament advances to the JUCO World Series, set to open up May 28.

Indian Hills enters as the reigning Region XI champion after knocking off nationally ranked Iowa Western last year before defeating No. 1 Wabash Valley twice to win the District tournament. The Warriors shocked the bracket at the JUCO World Series after knocking off top-seeded Crowder before bowing out.

Prior to Indian Hills' Region championship, Iowa Western had won the previous two tournaments and 14 of the previous 15 with Indian Hills winning the 2017 title. Marshalltown enters the weekend having reached four championship games in the bracket since 2013 while Southwestern is the newest team to the bracket, having joined the DI ranks in 2018.

HOW WE GOT HERE

Iowa Western took the regular season title for the 18^th consecutive year after posting an ICCAC-best 28-5 league record. Indian Hills earned the No. 2 overall seed with a 23-9 mark followed by No. 3 seed Marshalltown at 9-24 and Southwestern at 3-30.

The lone DI team to knock off Iowa Western during the regular season was Indian Hills who took a 7-5 win in Council Bluffs on April 21. The Reivers and Warriors both swept Marshalltown and Southwestern during the regular season.

BREAKING DOWN THE BRACKET

The Region XI tournament previously served as a seeded best two-of-three opening round series in 2021, but the 2022 tournament will revert back to a double-elimination bracket. The top-seeded Reivers will take on No. 4 Southwestern at 1:00 PM Thursday followed by No. 2 Indian Hills vs. No. 3 Marshalltown at 4:00 PM.

Thursday

• Game 1 | #1 Iowa Western vs. #4 Southwestern – 1:00 PM
• Game 2 | #2 Indian Hills vs. #3 Marshalltown – 4:00 PM

Friday

• Game 3 | L1 vs. L2 - 12:00 PM
• Game 4 | W1 vs. W2 - 3:00 PM
• Game 5 | L4 vs. W3 - 6:00 PM

Saturday

• Game 6 | W4 vs. W5 - 1:00 PM
• Game 7 | (if necessary): 4:00 PM

PLAYERS TO WATCH

              Iowa Western

• Dylan Robertson has led the Reivers with 55 hits on the year, including 22 for extra bases. The sophomore is hitting .374 on the year.
• Freshman Tye Wood is one of 13 Reivers batting .300 or better on the year and sports a .357 clip heading into the tournament.
• Ernie Day and Brant Hogue both own 5-0 records on the mound and both own ERA's under 2.75.

              Indian Hills

• The Warriors return 14 members of last year's JUCO World Series team, including red-hot Ricardo Van Grieken, an all-region pick last year. Van Grieken owns a .349 average and a team-high 53 RBI.
• Freshman Daniel Figueroa leads the Warriors with 40 stolen bases and a team-best .355 batting average on the year.
• Jack Payne has served as a force out of the bullpen for the Warriors and owns an 8-1 record and 1.80 earned run average.
• Douglas Rojas has been named the ICCAC Pitcher of the Week three times this season and has been in command down the stretch.

              Marshalltown

• Clayton Slack leads the Tigers with an impressive .398 batting average on the year and has hit safely in 17 of the team's last 20 games.
• Luke Pell has appeared in 42 games on the year and ranks second on the team with a .331 batting average heading to the Region XI Tournament.
• Ernesto Moreno Jr. has played all 49 games for the Tigers as a primary infielder and is tied for the team-lead with five home runs.

              Southwestern

• Brennan Phillips powers the offense for the Spartans with a team-high .327 bating average on the year.
• Eric Bello ranks first on the team with 54 hits and 14 doubles and has added four home runs for the Spartans.
• Daniel Thiessen has hit a team-high five home runs for the Spartans and owns a team-high .575 slugging percentage

GOHILLSTV ON THE CALL

Fans can view every pitch of the NJCAA Region XI DI Baseball Tournament by downloading the GoHillsTV app on their smartphone or tablet device, visiting www.gohillstv.com/browse, or on the GoHillsTV Facebook page.