What hasn’t already been said about what’s happened this year? If you’ve listened to The Juco Pod at all you know me and Chris have talked about what’s happened and really still just seems crazy that the season is over at this point in the spring. 

To fill you guys in on why this has come out later then the week after it was simple. This was the Final Ranking of the Year. We wanted to make sure we took everything into account and did not overlook anything. From the teams at the Division 3 level that just started playing the week the season was canceled. To the teams that had already played 25 games or more. Making sure we gave every team a thorough going through and double, triple, and even quadruple checking things across everything that is about to roll out here at the JBB. 

One thing that does suck and we have said it multiple times is that so many teams were about to see if they had what it would take or not. The majority of the Division 1 and Division 2 teams were just getting into Conference play and that was going to tell alot about some teams and even possibly Expose them. 

Division 1

Rounding out the Division 1 ranks John A. Logan Claimed the Final Spot in the last rankings! Does that make them the National Champs? Probably not, But talk about a team that we were excited to see what was about to happen. Finishing the year at 20-1 with no sign of stopping. 

Region Rival, Wabash Valley finished in 2nd. Another team that we were excited to see what was going to happen. With a 17-2 record, arguably a better team then the one they had last year that went 55-4 and went undefeated in Conference play (27-0). They finished the year riding a 10-Game Win Streak. 

Yavapai was a team that was just about to get into the thick of Arizona Conference play and Honestly they were not looking like they were going to step off the gas. Finishing with a 22-3 Record. 

McLennan finished the year 19-5, and ranked 5th in the country. They started off at #2 and never left the top 5. Loing games to San Jac, Navarro, and North Central. McLennan had the looks of a team that could take home the crown at the end of the year if they could get out of Region 5. 

Iowa Western played one of the last Collegiate Games of the year (At Any Level) against Ellsworth in which they took both games 5-1 and 4-2. As many that we have named so far had high hopes for the rest of the season. The Reivers are ⅓ of a crazy trio that includes both the #1 and #2 teams in the country all fighting for just 1 spot to make it to Grand Junction and this year it could have been any of them. 

Grayson was a team that started off hot and had no sign of looking back. They started the season ranked 19th. They dropped 1 spot to #20 before moving up every week. With big wins over San Jac (Twice), Navarro, and Seminole (OK) (3 Times). Grayson was a team that nobody was talking about at the beginning of the season but they had all the piece that were needed to end the season on top. 

San Jac Finished the year 21-6, What made them interesting this year was how they played. WHen playing in Region 14/Region 5 they were 19-3 with those 3 losses coming from Grayson. When playing outside Texas they were 3-3 with losses from NW Florida, Chipola, and Florida SW State. Regardless the Gators were about to jump head first into Region 14 Play with no sign of stepping off the gas and making another trip to Grand Junction. 

Crowder ended the season with a big time Regional Matchup between them and Jefferson (Who Finished 12th), in which they split. Other than those two losses, Crowder was one of the hottest teams in the country. Finishing 22-3. They started ranked 22 falling as low as 23 before jumping up big each week before dropping 2 in the final ranking. 

Odessa was a team that honestly, was not getting the credit that they deserved. Starting ranked outside the top 25 and were quietly making their way up to finish at #9. They finish at 21-2 and have so far swept their way through the WJCAC with no sign of stopping winning the  6 games they played by an average of just over 6 runs. 

Rounding out the final top 10 of the season is Walters State. Finishing at 20-7. They were just about to jump full into the Tennessee regular season. With high hopes of making it back to Grand Junction for a 3rd Straight season. 

Division 2

LSU-Eunice started the season at #1 they finished the year at #1 and chances are if the season was going to finish they would end up on top. Finishing with a perfect 21-0 Record averaging just over 13 runs a game. LSU-Eunice had a strong chance to finish the regular season undefeated and with 2 wins at the regional Tournament would break the All-Time Junior College Win Streak at 53. Even without that Speculation LSU-Eunice was one of the top teams in the country at Any Level. 

NOC-Tonkawa rose to the top of Region 2 this year. They started off the season with a huge Sweep of at the time Top 10 Ranked Northeast (NE). Finishing with a 4 game win-streak going into their tough stretch that started Region 2 play. They started the season ranked 14th and finished ranked 2nd. 

Northwest Mississippi was one of the big surprises in Gauntlet, which is Mississippi. Starting at #22 and finishing at #3. Finishing at 14-1 they were off to one of the Hottest start’s in the country. What is unfortunate is like what was said above. A Lot of teams were about to get to the meat of their schedules which is the case for Northwest. In the coming weeks they were going to face the top of the State of Mississippi in Northeast and Copiah-Lincoln. 

Mesa was looking good at making it back to Enid this year. Splitting with All other Division 2 Arizona teams in their first go around and with their only series loss coming to Yavapai. As we have said many times records do not tell the whole story when it comes to teams in Arizona… especially with the division 2 teams. Having to play a handful of some of the top teams at the division 1 level makes the overall record not seem as good as it really is. 

Pearl Rivers never left the top 5 all season. Starting at #5 and making it all the way to #2 before dropping in this last ranking. Finishing at 12-4 and at #5. They dropped because they split their last week against Spring Hill. Other than that loss the other 3 to two of the top teams in Florida and also the country in Chipola, which they started the season off with (5-3 L, 4-0 L), and NW Florida, which they played the week prior splitting losing the first game 4-1 and taking the second game 2-1. 

Sinclair is a team that took a big hit this year due to them being one of the last teams to start playing. Playing only 14 games and starting just 3 weeks prior to the season being called. The only time they lost multiple games in a row was when they traveled to Georgia Highlands and lost the 3 game series against them. They then swept McHenry in a 3 game series. 

Northeast Mississippi was by far the fastest rising team. Starting well outside the top 25 and finishing at #7. The only 2 losses they had on the season were to Kaskaskia and then to East Central. Northeast much like Northwest was about to get into the thick of Mississippi facing off against Pearl River and Northwest in back to back series. 

Southeastern is right behind Northeast Mississippi in being a fast riser. Starting again well outside the Top 25 and finishing at #8. Southeastern made their way thorough Jones and Meridian to start the season. They split with Parkland before going on a 8 game win-streak. Which ended against Itawamba and Mississippi Delta. Southeastern was about to go through a tough stretch of games. Starting with the Defending National Champs NOC-Enid, then Neosho, and 2019 Enid Team Northeast. 

When we say Mississippi has good baseball… They have good baseball. This is the 4th team that makes the top 10 in this final ranking. Hinds finished at 12-2 and again is another team that started on the outside looking in. the biggest jump they had was between week 5 and week 6 when they went from #21 to #9. They swept Jones, Delgado, Baton Rouge before splitting with Baton Rouge in early march. As has been said above they were about to get into the mix in mississippi. They had Coahoma, Jones again, and Holmes all in the coming weeks before the season got called. 

The final team in the Top 10 this year is Catawba Valley. They were in the mid teens all season but finish at #10. They finished with a 12-5 Record. With big wins over Wake Tech and Paul D Camp it looked like Catawba was about to start rolling. One of their biggest Strengths came from the staff. Any time you can have someone throw 2 back to back no hitters that helps you out a ton. 

Division 3

Rowan Gloucester is another example of a team that started on top but stayed there. They finished with a 6-1 record with the only loss coming from Mercer county in a close 7-6 game. With winds over Atlatic Cape, and Camden County there was no reason to not keep them on top.

Herkimer is a sad one. Yes, they Finished ranked 2nd in the country…. And yes they finished with a 0-0 record. But that should say a lot about the team that could have been. If you have listened to any of the Juco pods then you know how much we liked Herkimer this season. 

The Defending Champs finish at #3. Cumberlands had a lot of questions after last year’s team and those seemed to get answered. Finishing with a 10-2 record they recorded wins SUNY Adirondack, Northampton and a 29 run win over Union County it did not look like they were going to get stopped until they hit conference play. 

St. Cloud Tech is again another school that we are upset about. Yes, they finished 4th but as we have said multiple times Minnisota is one of the more underrated states/Regions when it comes to junior college baseball. With a 10-3 record their only losses came from Div. 2 Frederick an Niagara County. 

Brookdale is another case of teams that did not play many games but deserve to be where they are ranked. With a 4-1 record they finish ranked 5 which is the highest they have been ranked this year. They split their opening series with Prince George’s and then swept a 3 game series against Begen. 

Niagara County might sound like an odd fit for #6 but they have only played 6 games which honestly is a lot if not the same case for Herkimer. They Finished with a 2-4 record. They have a win over St. Cloud Tech in a Series which they split. They then lost a double header with Lansing before splitting their last double header against Minnesota State. 

Tyler Is a staple at the top of the rankings and this year is no different. They finished with a 17-6 Record. They got off to a slow start losing their first 3 games, but did not lose back to back games again the rest of the season. With big wins over Panola, and Murray State. 

Rockingham was making a strong case for making it back to the world series for the 3rd straight year. Finishing with a 14-5 Record they were just about to get to as much of the meat of their schedules. They did Not lose back to back games all season with what looks like a long stretch in which they were going to start to pull away from the rest. 

Brookhaven had their eyes on making it back to the World Series. After finishing 3rd last year and returning many of the key parts it was a strong possibility. With a 18-6 record, this might sound odd but many of the Division 3 schools in Texas deal with the same problems of the Arizona Division 2’s… They have to play tons of the top Division 1 teams. The only time Brookhaven lost back to back games was to start the season against Johnson County where they lost the series 1-3. They finished the season riding a 9 game win streak and were about to get into the thick of their conference play.

Rounding out the Top 10 is another school from Texas in Richland. The Thunderducks finished with a 22-10 record. They played the most games out of anyone in the country this year with 32. With the bulk of the rest of conference play left. We would not have been surprised if they finished near the top. 

CCCAA

To end the season Ohlone moves back to the top. They were the only team to make a jump inot the last spot for this last ranking. They spent the majority of this short season on top dropping to #4 for 2 weeks. They never were below #5 though. Multiple times this season we said that Ohlone had a strong chance at being a top 5 National Ranked team and we stand by that still. They finished with a 19-2 record. With a big win over Cypress early in the season it was clear that the way they were winning was no joke. The two games they lost were to San Mateo in a 14-10 slugfest and Canada 8-7 in back to back games. Statistically they were one of the best all together teams in the state as well as the country. They led the state in Doubles (68), RBI’s (208), Extra Base Hits (98), Total Bases (415), Sac Flies (22), Average (.362), and OBP (474). 

Fresno stayed at #2 in the final ranking. They finished with a 17-3 record. They were riding a 7 game win streak when the season was called with no sign of letting up. After sweeping both West Hills Coalinga and Taft in back to back weeks averaging over 6 runs a game. Their biggest win came from a split with Sac City in mid February. 

Cypress dropped 2 spots in the final ranking. They spent one week ranked on top but split in the last week with Riverside. They started the season ranked #5 and never fell outside of the top 10. With big wins over El Camino, Palomar, Fullerton (3 Game Sweep), They were putting together quite an impressive Resume before they got into the gauntlet that is conference play. With series against Riverside, Orange Coast, and Santa Ana coming up in the coming weeks we were all going to see who was going to come out of the Orange Empire Conference. 

So far the trend has been that the Top 10 stayed in the Top 10 and this does not change with the final #4 team. Santa Ana started at #10 and moved up steadily making it all the way to #1 in week 6 before dropping to #3. With big wins over Cerritos, Glendale and a season ending split over Riverside. Santa Ana was another Orange Empire Conference team that was gearing up to jump into that gauntlet. 

Santa Rosa started the season ranked 13th and moved up every week finishing at #5. They finished with a 18-2 record with key wins over Feather River, a Series win over Sac City it was clear to see they were on the rise. They really had no sign of letting up. They would have finished the season with back to back series between them Modesto and San Joaquin Delta to most likely decide the winner of the Big 8 Conference.

Sacramento City spent the majority of the season ranked #2 before falling to #6 in week 7. They remained there in the final ranking. They finished the season with a 16-4 record. To start the season they rallied off 9 wins before losing their first game to Fresno City. The only blemish that they have had was their series loss to Santa Rosa. 

Saddleback sat in the Teens for most of the season before jumping into the top 10 in week 7. They remain in that spot to end the season. With a 16-4 record, they had big series wins over Santa Barabara, Riverside and split with Cypress before the year was cancelled. 

Riverside has gotten quite a few mentions so far in this recap. Arguably they have played one of the top schedules of the Top 10 this year. Starting the season at #6 the fell to #8 and never fell out of the top 10 and made it as high as #5. They finished with a 16-6 record. As stated before they have played one of the top schedules out of anyone so far. With a series win over Cuesta, wins over Palomar, a Split with Santa Ana, and the only series loss of the year for them coming from Saddleback (2-1 series loss). 

El Camino makes just their 3rd appearance in the top 10 this year. They started the season ranked #8 and fell to as low as #16 in week 5 before rising back up. What pushed them back up was a sweep of Cerritos at the end of February.

Finishing the Top 10 for the CCCAA is San Mateo. The Bulldogs started the season ranked 9th and made it as high as 8th. They spent most of the season ranked around between 10th and 13th. With wins over De anza, San Joaquin Delta, Feather River, and Ohlone they were putting together a Resume that would impress anyone.