No. 6 Warriors Open Up World Series With Two Intense Wins

May 27th, 2025

The No. 6 East Central Community College Warriors began the NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series with two huge wins to remain fighting in the winner’s bracket in Enid, Oklahoma.

Saturday was when the Warriors opened play, winning a 6-5 thriller over No. 11 Catawba Valley led by a masterful pitching performance from Chris Billingsley. The right-hander punched out seven over eight innings while giving up five hits and only one earned run. His outing moved him to 9-3 on the season.

After briefly trailing 2-1 in the top of the third frame, ECCC responded with a two-run bomb from Jayden Adcox to give the Warriors a 3-2 lead. He finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs.

As Catawba Valley scored two runs in the top of the ninth to cut the Warriors’ lead to 6-5, relief pitcher Andrew Nielsen stepped up and shut the door on the Red Hawks to earn the save and leave the tying run on base.

Game two was a wild offensive battle as ECCC took on third-seeded South Mountain Community College. The Warriors leaped to a 4-0 advantage in the top of the first inning before Ryan Nelson batted a two-RBI single later in the game to extend the lead, 6-0.

South Mountain would claw back into the game with a run in the bottom of the fifth and then three runs in both the sixth and seventh frames to tie the game at 7-7 after Bryan Lorenz smashed a three-run homer.

The eighth inning saw a huge turn of events when Brady McAbee of East Central crushed a two-run bomb to put the Warriors up 9-7. However, South Mountain responded in dramatic fashion with a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to knot the game back at 9-9.

The top of the ninth was crucial for ECCC, and they were able to capitalize on an RBI single from Eli Smith, his third of the game. Andrew Nielson stepped up once again and shut the door on South Mountain with a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his third save of the season and second in a row.

The Warriors are currently facing off against No. 2 Pearl River in the winner’s bracket. You can follow at https://www.njcaa.org/sports/bsb/2024-25/boxscores/20250527_08vh.xml.