Photo by Iowa Central Athletics: Iowa Central baseball players hold up the regional championship trophy after beating top-seeded Southeastern twice on Sunday in Carroll.

CARROLL — It wasn’t the easiest path to the district championship round, but it was a dramatic one.

The 16th-ranked (NJCAA Div. II) Iowa Central baseball team claimed their second consecutive Region 11 championship with two wins over seventh-rated and top-seeded Southeastern (45-15 overall).

“We are so juiced and excited to accomplish this,” said ICCC head coach Eric Stein. “The regular season doesn’t tell the whole story between us and Southeastern.

“They are a good team and we are a good team and when you get into the tournament and in a win-or-go-home scenario, the emotions are high.”

The Tritons (48-10) clinched a spot in next weekend’s district tournament with an 8-7 win over the Black Hawks on Sunday.

The weekend started out with a 5-4 loss to Southeastern. The Tritons bounced back with an 11-2 win over DMACC to set up a two-win-or-bust situation for the Tritons.

The Tritons, who were 0-5 against the Black Hawks heading into Sunday’s games, picked up their first win in impressive fashion, clubbing Southeastern by a final of 17-4.

The last contest was as dramatic as the whole weekend for Iowa Central, which won two clutch games against the top seed.

“We are walking off super excited,” Stein said. “It wasn’t the most direct path, but against good competition, if you stay resilient, anything can happen.”

In the deciding game on Sunday, the Tritons built a 4-0 lead and held on. They pounded out 10 hits in the contest.

Iowa Central had 10 hits in the contest, led by home runs from George McIntyre and Bryson Carpenter, who both drove in a pair.

Tate Perrin, Ben Jones and Sam Sejnoha also drove in runs.

Pitching on short rest, the ICCC pitching staff came up big to shut down the Black Hawks. Carter Giesen, who started on Friday, got the tip of the cap to start.

Giessen went three three innings, allowing four hits and one run. Carson Schroeder pitched one inning.

Isaiah Brennan, who threw on Thursday earned the win in two innings of work to improve to (8-2). Maddox Sullivan earned his second save of the season.

“This was just an entire team effort,” Stein said. “In this second game, our staff was on short rest. Carter and Brennan were on short notice and did what we needed. Maddox Sullivan finished it out.

“These guys were incredible.”

Maddux Gast was the inning cruncher for the Tritons, going the distance in the win against DMACC by eating up eight innings to rest some of the arms in the bullpen.

Gast gave up only two hits, walking seven and striking out nine batters.

McIntyre, Sawyer Stein and Sam Sejnoha had home runs for Iowa Central.

In the first win Sunday against the Black Hawks, Iowa Central pounded out 13 hits, including six for extra bases.

Stein, Jones and Will Specht went deep, while Wyatt Myers, Stein and Sejnoha had doubles.

Jones had three hits and drove in a run, while Stein and Perrin had two hits each. Stein drove in six. Specht drove in three, while McIntyre and Myers contributed two RBI.

The bullpens were put to work in this contest, as the teams combined to throw 17 pitchers. The Black Hawks sent 12 arms to the mound.

Cooper Den Hartog picked up the win for Iowa Central.

“This tournament is a bear and being tired is probably an understatement,” Stein said. “Saturday we got back just shy of midnight and we’ve been driving back and forth the whole time. These guys just battled through it and wanted it.

“This is one of the better rivalries in our league. We gave up some games against them this year and our guys wanted a little get back in this tournament.”

The Tritons will now play Williston of North Dakota in the best-of-three district series championship in North Dakota this coming weekend.