Junior College Top 25: May 14
It’s
down to 40 . . . and counting.
That’s
how many junior-college teams are still alive in the 2015
championship hunt as tournaments get underway this weekend around the
country to determine the No. 1 team on a number of fronts.
Most
of the attention will be focused on the 10-team Junior College World
Series, slated to begin on Saturday in Grand Junction, Colo., but the
National Junior College Athletic Association also has two more
national tournaments scheduled to start that day. The 10-team
Division II World Series will be played in Enid, Okla., and the
8-team Division III World Series in Kinston, N.C.
California
junior colleges, and those in the Pacific Northwest, are not members
of the NJCAA, but they’ll stage their own championship events, with
the 4-team California state tournament set for Fresno, beginning
Friday, and the eight-team Northwest Athletic Conference tournament,
scheduled to begin Thursday in Longview, Wash. All the tournaments
are double-elimination events.
Also
at stake is the No. 1 spot in Perfect Game’s final Top 25 ranking
of the nation’s junior colleges, and it will undoubtedly be claimed
by a team that takes home a championship trophy from the assortment
of tournaments that will be played out over the next several days.
Entering
the final stage of competition, two California teams, San Joaquin
Delta (39-4) and Palomar (36-6), hold down the top two spots. Both
school’s won best-of-3 series in sectional play last weekend to
move to Fresno.
San
Joaquin Delta has been ranked No. 1 in PG’s Top 25 most of the
season after bolting out to a 28-0 start. The Mustangs open the
California Final Four, coincidentally, against Orange Coast, the team
that beat them in the championship game a year ago. Orange Coast
(just 27-17 this season) subsequently went on to finish No. 1 in the
PG rankings.
While
California junior colleges have dominated the rankings again, there
will be no overlooking No. 3-ranked Iowa Western, which has won three
of the last five Junior College World Series championships and enters
this year’s event on a 35-game winning streak. The red-hot Reivers
(52-5) began the season at 2-3, but have won 50 of their last 52
games.
Led
by Iowa Western, all 10 teams in the Junior College World Series are
ranked in PG’s latest Top 25. Following the Reivers at No. 4 is
Tennessee’s Walters State (54-10), while Northwest Florida State
(37-12) is at No. 5 and Yavapai (Ariz.) at No. 6.
The
top-ranked team in the NJCAA D-II tournament is No. 10 LSU-Eunice
(44-9), which has won four national championships at that level since
2006. The Bengals had to beat Hinds (Miss.), the top-ranked team in
D-II, in a regional showdown to advance.
New
York’s Herkimer County (45-4) enters PG’s Top 25 this week at No.
22, and is the favorite to win the NJCAA D-III World Series.
Washington’s Lower Columbia (36-9), ranked No. 18, has top billing
in the NWAC tournament, which is being played on its home field.
Records through games of Tuesday, May 19.
Rk. |
Prev. |
Team |
ST |
Record |
Next Game |
1 |
1 |
San Joaquin Delta |
CA |
39-4 |
California JC Final Four (Friday) |
2 |
2 |
Palomar |
CA |
36-6 |
California JC Final Four (Friday) |
3 |
3 |
Iowa Western |
IA |
52-5 |
Junior College World Series (Saturday) |
4 |
4 |
Walters State |
TN |
54-10 |
Junior College World Series (Saturday) |
5 |
6 |
Northwest Florida State |
FL |
37-12 |
Junior College World Series (Saturday) |
6 |
10 |
Yavapai |
AZ |
45-17 |
Junior College World Series (Saturday) |
7 |
7 |
Cowley County |
KS |
54-5 |
Season complete |
8 |
8 |
St. Johns River |
FL |
47-10 |
Season complete |
9 |
9 |
Fresno |
CA |
35-9 |
California JC Final Four (Friday) |
10 |
16 |
LSU-Eunice |
LA |
44-9 |
Junior College D-II World Series (Saturday) |
11 |
11 |
Palm Beach State |
FL |
41-17 |
Season complete |
12 |
12 |
San Jacinto |
TX |
39-20 |
Junior College World Series (Saturday) |
13 |
5 |
Southern Nevada |
NV |
44-15 |
Season complete |
14 |
14 |
Chipola |
FL |
40-12 |
Season complete |
15 |
17 |
McLennan |
TX |
37-18 |
Junior College World Series (Saturday) |
16 |
18 |
Dodge City |
KS |
41-18 |
Junior College World Series (Saturday) |
17 |
19 |
Chattahoochee Valley |
AL |
41-15 |
Junior College World Series (Saturday) |
18 |
20 |
Lower Columbia |
WA |
36-9 |
Northwest JC playoffs (Thursday) |
19 |
NR |
Delgado |
LA |
33-14 |
Junior College World Series (Saturday) |
20 |
NR |
USC Sumter |
SC |
42-18 |
Junior College World Series (Saturday) |
21 |
NR |
Western Oklahoma State |
OK |
49-11 |
Junior College D-II World Series (Saturday) |
22 |
NR |
Herkimer County |
NY |
45-4 |
Junior College D-III World Series (Saurday) |
23 |
NR |
Frederick |
MD |
49-7 |
Junior College D-II World Series (Saturday) |
24 |
21 |
Johnson County |
KS |
49-11 |
Season complete |
25 |
22 |
Howard |
TX |
43-15 |
Season complete |
Dropped out: No. 13 Seminole State, Okla.(39-17); No. 15 Hinds, Miss. (43-7); No. 23 Santa Barbara, Calif. (33-11); No. 24 Cochise, Ariz. (44-17); No. 25 Grayson, Texas (37-17).