—Photo by Iowa Central athletics iowa central players hold up the regional championship trophy after beating top-seed Southeastern twice on Sunday in Carroll.

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

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

“We are so juiced and excited to accomplish this,” said Iowa Central 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.

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 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, 17-4.

The final contest wasn’t as dramatic as the whole weekend, winning two games against the top-seed.

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

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

The Tritons had 10 hits in the contest, led by home runs from George McIntyre and Bryson Carpenter, both of who had two RBI as well.

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

Pitching on short days rest, the Triton 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, eating up eight innings to rest some of the arms in the pen.

Gast gave up only two hits, while 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, the Tritons had 13 hits, including six for extra bases.

Stein, Jones and Will Specht had home runs, 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 runs. Specht drove in three runs, while McIntyre and Myers had two RBI.

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

Cooper Den Hartog picked up the win for the Tritons.

“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 rivaliaries 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 North Dakota in the district best of three series in North Dakota next weekend.