JENKS - Unable to overcome a seven-run outburst in the bottom of the sixth inning by No. 1 seed Connors State College, the No. 3 seed Northeastern A&M Golden Norsemen dropped a 14-10 decision to the 11th ranked Cowboys Saturday afternoon in the winner's bracket semifinals of the Men's Division 1 Region 2 Baseball Tournament at Jenks High School's Hinch Field.


While snapping an eight-game winning streak coach Roger Ward's Golden Norse carried a 32-16 record into Saturday night's loser's bracket finals. The Norsemen faced the winner of No. 2 seed Seminole State (37-17) versus No. 5 seed Eastern State (25-29) elimination game played Saturday evening.
Winner of the loser's bracket finals faces Connors (48-9) at 1 p.m. Sunday for the Region 2 championship. An "if necessary" game would be played at 4 p.m.
Winner of the Region 2 Tournament will host three-team South Central District scheduled for May 16-18. Joining the Region 2 winner are champions from Region 16 (comprised of eight schools from Missouri) and Region 23 from Louisiana (Baton Rouge and Delgado) and Mississippi (Meridian).
The South Central District winner earns a berth in the Men's Division 1 National Junior College Athletic Association World Series slated for May 25-June 1 in Grand Junction, Colo.
"Even though we couldn't overcome the hole we were in, I'm proud of the way our kids never gave up," Ward said. "They played hard all nine innings and they can't wait to get back on the yard in the late game and then see what happens on Sunday."
With two outs in the top of the first inning, the Golden Norse tallied two runs. Sophomore shortstop Kevin Meyers hit his team-leading seventh home run to start the rally. After Jackson Morris walked, Greg Hunsnander followed with an RBI single to right-center.
A single by Christian Perez, a walk to Korey Keith and a RBI single by Yariel Gonzalez gave the Cowboys a run in the bottom of the first inning.
Corey Dodd singled to start the top of the second for NEO. After Scott Crabtree reached on an error, Alex Wise bounced intoo a fielder's choice as Dodd scored for a 3-1 Norse margin.
Consecutive singles by Jiro Morales and Eric Kirkpatric started a three-run second for Connors State. Perez lined his sixth homer of the year as the Cowboys rallied for a 4-3 lead off NEO starter Jake Jewell.
Kyle Byrd replaced Jewell in the bottom of the third inning and surrendered two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Singles by Perez, Keith and Victor Claudio along with two walks increased the Connors lead to 6-3 heading into the fifth inning.
Marc Berube replaced Byrd to start the bottom of the fifth inning. After two walks to start the bottom of the sixth inning, Andrew Miller replaced Berube on the mound. A two-run double by Kirkpactric and two walks, sent Miller to the bench as Cody Jordan entered the game for NEO. Three Connors singles and an NEO error put the finishing touches on a seven-run explosion by the Cowboys.
"I'm not the kind of coach that likes to single any one player out," Ward said. "But, this was the first time since we lost our top two pitchers earlier (Travis Remillard and Hector Hernandez) in the year that we just didn't pitch well at all.
"We had way too many walks and we gave up way too many hits at crucial times," Ward said. "We just created too big of a deficit to overcome."
Trailing 13-3 in the top of the seventh inning, the Golden Norse rallied on singles by Ramon Laureano, Meyers, Morris and Angel Ortiz to create a 13-6 deficit.
Perez doubled scoring Kirkpatric for the final Connors' run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Crabtree doubled and scored on a RBI single by Kaleb Thomas to give NEO a run in the top of the eighth.
A walk by Meyers and a pinch-hit single by Jordan Goode started a three-run ninth for the Norsemen. Ortiz followed with his sixth home run of the year to conclude the scoring.
Ortiz paced the 13-hit Norse offense with two hits and five RBI. Meyers, Laureano and Thomas also added two hits each.
Perez, hitting leadoff for the Cowboys, produced three singes, a double, a homer and five RBi.