Going into week Six there are a lot of the big dogs that are getting started. With that there was only going to be one series of the week The annual Opening Series between Iowa Western and Crowder. But sense the world decided to freeze over, trips got canceled, and mother nature decided to stick it to everyone San Jac’s trip to Florida two weeks ago got canceled. They however are making it up this weekend with a Trip to Chipola. So you guys are getting a double dip preview this week.

#10 San Jac (8-3) @ #12 Chipola (14-2)

San Jac is a school that, in recent history, has shown that they are winning to travel the country to play the best. From hosting the Tournament of Champions year in and year out and to take trips to Florida the past few years. Two weeks ago when the country froze they were supposed to travel to florida and take on both Chipola and Northwest Florida. Unfortunately they got canceled but due to both teams schedules having holes to fill the two decided to play.

These two over the past 5 years have played a total of 7 times, with 4 of them coming at the Junior College World Series, with 2 of them being for a National Title (2017, Chipola won both), and the other two coming in earlier rounds (2017 (San Jac Win), 2018 (Chipola win). In those 7 games the record goes in favor of Chipola at 5 and 2. Granted those trends mean little when it comes to junior college baseball due to the quick turnover. But, These two teams have history and always play great games. 

Chipola is going into the weekend with an overall record of 15-2, riding a 3 game win streak and being 1-0 this week with a win over Chattahoochee Valley (6-4). Chipola this year has had one of the top offensive teams this season. They currently sit ranked in the top 10 in Runs (129, 10th), Hits (155, 9th), Total Bases (252, 7th), Doubles (32, 6th), Extra Base Hits (55, 5th), and Home Runs (19, 3rd).

Usually when it comes to a team’s offense there are one, two, maybe three guys that stand out statistically. But, when looking at Chipolas roster almost everyone has produced some part of those Nationally Ranked Team Statistics. When picking some to highlight this became heard because again almost all deserve a shout out. The three that we are going to highlight are Cameron Gray ( Troy Commit , .371/.444/.581, with 5 Doubles, 1 Triple, 2 Home Runs, and 17 RBI’s), Dylan Goldstein (.277/.417/.489, 4 Doubles, 2 Home Runs, 11 RBI’s), and Alfonso Villalobos (.308/.372/.564, 1 Double, 3 Home Runs, 12 RBI’s). Even though we highlighted those three from top to bottom this Chipola Roster is Young and knows how to swing the bat. 

San Jac is going into the weekend with an overall record of 11-4, coming in on a 1 game losing streak, and being 3-1 this week so far with a Double Header sweep of Galveston (5-4, 9-5) and a Double Header Split with Alvin (5-3, 3-4). When you look at San Jac’s Team Stats they have 9 stats (At-Bats, Runs, Hits, Doubles, Triples, Home Runs, Extra Base Hits, Total Bases, and Walks) all in the Top 20 Nationally. 

It is not often that you see one team have a very even spread when it comes to offensive production at a high level but when you have two teams have the same spread that happen to be playing each other well look out. San Jac from top to bottom gets offensive production from everyone. The three we are going to highlight are Mason Lytle (.445/.519,.705, 3 Doubles, 1 Triple, 2 Home Runs, 11 RBI’s, 5 SB), Sabin Ceballos (.295/.400/.636, 4 Doubles, 1 Triple, 3 Home Runs, 15 RBI’s), and Harold Coll (.349/.451/.558, 3 Doubles, 2 Home Runs, 7 RBI’s, 5 SB). Again we could pick anyone on this Gator roster to highlight due to the fact that they can all swing the bat at a high and productive level. 

*Projected Pitchers

#8 Iowa Western (0-0) @ #11 Crowder (4-0)

Ok if Junior College baseball was shown on ESPN (which we all know it should be), This series would be front and center. Especially Game 1 with who is Projected to start for both teams. These two have Played to open either both or one of their seasons each of the last 5 years. With the record going in favor of Iowa Western over that span with the record of 11-7. This has also been the series of the week each time they get together. In 2020 they split (1-1), in 2019 they split (2-2), in 2018 they Split (2-2), in 2017 Iowa Western took the series (3-1), and in 2016 Iowa Western took the series (3-1). 

For Iowa Western this is their Opening Series. With that being said we can not go into the stats that they have put up so far this season but we can still say who we think you should be on the lookout for. This weekend be on the lookout for Logan Jordan (Campbell Commit), Aaron Staehly (Abilene Christian Commit), and Jaden Brown to all put up big numbers this weekend and get out of the gates Swinging (Pun Intended). 

For Crowder they went into the weekend 5-1, with a 1-1 week so far after a mid week split with McLennan (1-11, 3-2). With only 6 games they do not rank very high when it comes to any national stats as a team. But when looking at the team on an individual level the team has been led by the Trio of Logan Chambers (.556/.579/.1.33, 5 Doubles, 3 Home Runs, 8 RBI’s), Rod Chriss (Eastern Kentucky Commit  .333/.375/.667, 2 Doubles, 1 Home Run, 2 RBI’s), and Jeffrry Mercado (.400/.400/.700, 1 Homer Run, 5 RBI’s).