Tournament of Champions Preview
1/29 1/30 1/31 Howard vs #3 Grayson #3 McLennan vs Howard Navarro vs #7 Grayson Odessa vs #10 San
Read more1/29 1/30 1/31 Howard vs #3 Grayson #3 McLennan vs Howard Navarro vs #7 Grayson Odessa vs #10 San
Read moreThis District was one of the toughest to call coming out of last year. Going into the season the usual favorite could not compete postseason so it was really up for grabs as to who was going to take home the Mid-South/Region 14 Crown and a trip to Grand Junction. Navarro rose to that occasion taking the Region title from Blinn after running through the first 3 rounds of the tournament. They ended up finishing 3rd in the country after fighting through the losers bracket and forcing a winners take all 3rd place game against Iowa Western to decide who would play for the National Title. They finished the season with a record of 41-18.
Previous winners: ‘19 Navarro, ‘18 San Jac, ‘17 San Jac, ‘16 San Jac
This year San Jac is back in full force with the Pre-Season Pitcher of the Year in Luke Little (South Carolina); who is also the National Pre-Season Pitcher of the Year and All-American. A team that does not always get the recognition in this region Wharton boasts the Pre-Season Player of the Year in Alec Carr (New Mexico) who also happens to be a Pre-Season All-American.
Read moreRegion 14 has by far the most history at the Division 1 Junior College level. Mainley due to the power that is San Jac. With 5 National titles, 14 National Title games, and 26 Trips to Grand Junction those are all records across the country. But, the talent does not stop there by any means. From top to bottom this is one of the top regions in the country. Any team that makes it out of Region 14 has had success when going to Grand Junction. Since 2011, San Jac has gone in 2018 (3rd), 2017 (NRU), 2016 (NRU), 2015 (5th), and 2012 (NRU); Navarro has gone in 2019 (3rd), 2013, and 2011 (National Champ); and Blinn in 2014 (5th).
As with every region the talent that is in Region 14 is absolutely loaded. From top to bottom with:
San Jac’s- Chase Wilkerson, Harold Coll, and Hunter Hollan
Navarro’s-Cash Rugely, Alex Vargara, and Austin Eaton
Northeast Texas’s- Sawyer Thornhill, Nico Baumbach, and Kaleb Wisnoski
Paris’s- Sam Creed
Galveston’s-Connor Dykstra, Johnny Bassailion, and Blake Martin
Blinn’s- Jace Hutchins, Dylan Theut, and Trevor Mott
Wharton’s- Trey Valka, and Josh Salinas
Bossier Parish’s- Beau Ross, Dylan Collins, and Zach St. Pierre
Read moreThis week saw a TON of baseball all across the country. Still no rankings this week and we will not have any until the end of February. Until then we will have these recaps mixed with our Players of the Week, Teams of the Week, and Recap of our “Series” of the previous week.
Tournament of Champions Recap
1/29
1/30
1/31
Howard-3 vs #7 Grayson-17
#3 McLennan-18 vs Howard-10
Navarro-3 vs #7 Grayson-9
Odessa-1 vs #10 San Jac-8
Weatherford-7 vs Alvin-1
Alvin-4 vs #7 Grayson-5
#3 McLennan-6 vs Alvin-11
Weatherford-3 vs Odessa-2
Navarro-9 vs Weatherford-12
#3 McLennan-3 vs Odessa-1
#3 McLennan-17 vs #10 San Jac-8
Weatherford-10vs #10 San Jac-12
Howard-10 vs #10 San Jac-7
Navarro-21 vs Howard-11
Odessa-4 vs #7 Grayson-7
Navarro-8 vs Alvin-0
Tournament Rankings
Rank
Team
W
L
PF
PA
P
1
#7 Grayson
4
0
38
14
11
2
#10 San Jac
3
1
35
38
10
3
Weatherford
3
1
32
24
6
4
#3 McLennan
3
1
44
30
5
5
Howard
1
3
34
63
-3
6
Navarro
2
2
41
32
-4
7
Alvin
1
3
16
25
-5
8
Odessa
0
4
8
18
-13
Before you Criticize the rankings which we know people are going to do regardless, the final standings above are calculated on the weight of each win. Hence why even though Navarro wen 2-2 and Howard was 1-3, Howards 1 win (#10 San Jac) was worth more than both of Navarro's wins (Alvin and Howard). Yes, Navarro beat Howard but were going off the strength of the wins vs actual list for those standings.
If you are looking, that was the biggest surprise that would have to be Weatherford. Coming in there were a lot of questions we felt needed to be answered when it came to them. On paper they were good but would that translate to the field? And other than the one loss to San Jac to close up the weekend they proved to be better then what we gave them credit for. Their combo of X Factor bats and High End Arms are going to be a big reason why they can continue to be successful this season.
The team that “Won” the Weekend was Grayson going 4-0 with wins over Howard, Odessa, Navarro, and Alvin. They scored an average of 9.5 runs a game while allowing just 3.5 runs. Coming into the weekend Grayson was one of two teams that had played games before this weekend. With very few questions to be answered about them they answered them as loud as possible. With a line up that seems to have no holes, as well as arms that never seem to end, this team looks to be as complete as anyone in the country at this point.
With more games being played this week we debated having an updated ranking but still decided to hold off until more have the chance to play.
Division 1
#1 Southern Nevada started their season off going 3-1 with a loss to close the weekend to Salt Lake 15-3
#2 Wabash Valley starts their season February 13th.
#3 McLennan Competed in the Tournament of Champions going 3-1 with a loss to Alvin to start the weekend
#4 John A. Logan starts their season this week against Morton on Wednesday the 3rd
#5 Walters State went 3-0 outsourcing USC Salkehatchie 37-0
#6 Northwest Florida State went 2-0 with wins over Coastal Alabama-Brewton and Pensacola State
#7 Grayson went 4-0 at the Tournament of Champions
#8 Iowa Western Starts their season February 27th
#9 Johnson County starts their season February 12th
#10 San Jac went 3-1 at the Tournament of Champions
Division 2
#1 LSU-Eunice went 3-0
#2 Pearl River starts their season this week against East Central on Wednesday the 3rd
#3 NOC-Tonkawa starts their season this week against Hesston on Tuesday the 2nd
#4 Heartland starts their season February 27th
#5 Lansing starts their season March 16th
#6 Kirkwood starts their season February 27th
#7 Hinds starts their season this weekend against Southwest Mississippi
#8 Kellogg starts their season on March 12th
#9 Northeast Mississippi went 1-1 with a lost to East Mississippi
#10 Mercer County
Division 3
Only 2 Division 3 top 10 teams played this week
#1 Tyler went 2-0 against Centenary (10-1, 9-5)
#10 Coastal Bend went 2-2; Two Losses against Western Texas (13-4, 7-6); and two wins against Ranger (5-1, 12-5)
Other Notable Weeks
Cleveland County-1-0 This week marking the first ever program win 12-2 vs Surry
UA-Rich Mountain-1-2, Despite going 1-2 this week they also got their first ever Program win 8-4 vs Paris
Team of the Week
#12 Chipola (4-0)
Chipola claims our team of the week honors for week 2. With two wins over Coastal Alabama-Monroeville and two wins over #23 Wallace-Dothan.
They kicked off their week with a 10-3 win over Wallace-Dothan. This game was lead by Lyle Miller-Green (3-3, BB, RBI, 2B, 3 R), and Alfonso Villalobos (1-3, 3 RBI, HR, 3 R) at the plate while Andrew Baker and Jaylen Nowlin (UA-Birmingham Commit) did their jobs on the mound combining for 13 K’s with only 1 hit.
In the next two games they took on Coastal, In game 1 they won it 8-4 behind the bats of Dylan Goldstein (1-2, 3 RBI, HR, 1 R) and Mark Black (2-3, 3 RBI, HR, 1 R). In their second game they won it 5-2 behind the relief efforts of Bo Bonds (UL-Lafayette Commit) who went 3 innings striking out 9 with no hits.
To close out their week they took the last game vs Wallace-Dothan 12-2. This looked to be a complete team effort at the plate with 4 individuals all with multiple RBI’s (Myle Austin 2, Mark Black 2, Matthew Garcia 2, Cesar Franco 2)
Honorable Mentions
Grayson (4-0)-Wins vs Howard (17-3), Odessa (7-4), Navarro (9-3), Alvin (5-4)
East Mississippi (2-0)- Wins vs Itawamba (9-3), #9 Northeast Mississippi (3-2)
With the season starting either right after this goes out or in the past if you are just reading it you know one thing is for sure. This year Junior College Baseball is about to be one of the Hottest things in the baseball world that nobody is talking about.. Well that is expect for use.
So since our Pre-Season Ranking came out we decided to take a look at some of the toughest schedules across the country.
In this post we look at the top 25 Toughest Div 1 Schedules this year as well as a team that we feel might not lose a game and possibly put the 2009 Howard teams record in jeopardy.
Rnk
Team
1
Alvin
2
Community Christian College
3
Wharton
4
Galveston
5
Panola
6
Baton Rouge
7
Salt Lake
8
San Jac
9
Triton
10
Pima
11
Navarro
12
North Central Texas
13
Hill
14
Northeast Texas
15
Seminole State (OK)
16
Arkansas Baptist
17
Lincoln Trail
18
Rend Lake
19
Lake Land
20
Volunteer State
21
Weatherford
22
Kaskaskia
23
Yavapai
24
Temple
25
Central Arizona
Read more