Decatur, MS –  Monday kicked off the Region 23 Baseball Tournament with Northeast and East Mississippi competing in the play-in game to advance to the double elimination bracket where a back and forth contest saw a three-run homer from Conner McKnatt lock the game up in fifth but could not take over the lead with the Tigers falling 9-5 to finish their season. 

Northeast opened the game with a pair of hits in the top of the first with an RBI-single from Drew Hollimon driving in McKnatt for the first run of the tournament and take a 1-0 lead. East Mississippi responded in the second with a fielder's choice allowing them to score to tie and a ground out driving in a second run to take a 2-1 lead. Another two scores by East Mississippi in the bottom of the third made it a three-score deficit for Northeast who followed up in the top of the fourth being retired in order for the third straight inning. 

In the top of the fifth Northeast was able to add to their total and lock up the game at 4-4. Kieran Coleman walking to first before advancing to second off a hit by pitch to Brody Winemiller to put two on base for McKnatt who hammered out a three-run bomb to score everyone and tie the score. A two-run dinger in the sixth from East Mississippi once again gave them the lead with a 2-RBI double in the seventh extending it back to four to put the Tigers in an 8-4 hole entering the eighth. A solo homer off the bat of Hollimon added another run to the total that was matched in the bottom of the inning with a solo bomb from the Lions to keep the gap at four and end Northeast's season with a 9-5 loss. 

Key Stats vs. East Mississippi: 

• Hollimon was the only Tiger to record multiple hits, going 2-for-4 at the plate with one run and two RBI. 
• McKnatt went 1-for-3 at the plate with two runs and three RBI courtesy of his three-run home run. 

Northeast baseball ends their season with an overall record of 26-28 and a conference record of 13-15 in MACCC action.