NORFOLK, NEBRASKA -- The Northeast (Neb.) pitching staff held the Ellsworth offense in check and the Hawks eliminated the Panthers from the Region XI postseason tournament with back-to-back wins in the best-of-three opening round series between the two conference schools.  NCC scored an unearned run in the bottom of the 10th inning to claim a 3-2 victory in the first game, then came back the following afternoon for an 11-3 decision that ended the Panthers' season.

In the opener, NCC took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 5th inning with a pair of runs against Ellsworth starter Zach Carlsen.  Those runs, in addition to the game-winner, were unearned.  The Panthers answered with a couple of runs to tie the score at 2-all in the top of the 7th when Carlos Aranda doubled home Fabian Dumey and Javier Melendez.  It stayed tied until the Hawks pushed across the winning tally in the 10th.  Carlsen went the first six innings for ECC and Isaac Rohde replaced him, throwing three shutout frames until the NCC extra-inning run.  Trey Morris and Melendez each had two of ECC's eight hits.

The score was 4-3 in favor of Northeast after two innings of game two and they shut out the visiting Panthers the rest of the way.  NCC broke the game open with a 4-run 6th inning.  The first Ellsworth run in the 1st was a result of Ybrahim Quevedo's single that knocked in Aranda.  Ryan Boothe and Melendez came home on Aranda's double the following inning to complete the ECC scoring.  The four RBIs in the series gave Aranda a team-leading 50 for the season.  Kainoa Torres also had a two-base hit and Quevedo and TJ Truso provided singles for the other hits.  The Panthers used four pitchers with starter Gavin Busby taking the loss.  Matt Nolan, Elio Narvaez and Cooper Johnson all worked in relief.

Ellsworth finished with a 20-38 record and 20 sophomores concluded their ECC careers when the season came to an end.