Fresh from winning the National Junior College Athletic Association Region XIV – North Regional Baseball Championship, Paris Junior College’s baseball team heads to Brenham to play Blinn College in a best of three series for the Region XIV Super Regional and a chance to go to the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado.
“I am extremely proud of this group of young men,” said PJC Athletic Director and Baseball Coach Clay Cox. “They went into an absolute gauntlet of a regional tournament and left no doubt. This time of year it comes down to who is playing their best baseball at the right time, and last weekend we were clicking on all cylinders.”
At last weekend’s tournament in Corsicana, PJC went in as third seed of four teams. The Dragons made a clean sweep of No. 2 seed San Jacinto College (11-3), No. 1 seed Navarro College (13-3), then San Jacinto College again (11-5). They scored 35 runs in three games while the other three teams managed a total of 34 runs over the entire tournament.
As a team, PJC hit .385 and only allowed four earned runs over the three games. The Dragons never trailed, and are now 41-18 for the year, breaking the record set last year of 39 wins.
Garret Villa went 2-0 on the mound, throwing seven innings and allowing just one run. Caleb Jameson also picked up a win. Jax Ortiz had two saves and threw 6.2 innings scoreless in two games in relief.
Barrett Riebock tied for the team lead with seven hits (batted .467 in the tournament with three doubles) and led the team with eight RBIs. Preston Gamster also had seven hits and three doubles (batted .500 for the tournament). Ryan Davis reached base 12 out of 15 times on the weekend (batted .600). Ethan Guerra hit .429 on the weekend and Kevin Shea .455.
“To build off last year’s conference championship and bring home a regional championship is a huge step for our program,” said Cox. “We put ourselves in a position to do something that has not been done here in a long time, and that’s get to Grand Junction. We aren’t done yet. Blinn College is rolling right now, too, and we have to go to their yard. The townspeople of Brenham will make that an electric postseason atmosphere. It’s going to be fun. We just have to continue to play our game and focus on what we need to do. Do that and we have a chance to take the next step.”
Game one begins at 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 13, at Leroy Dreyer Field in Brenham, Texas. Game two takes place at 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 14, and an “if necessary,” decisive third game will be played at 3 p.m. on Monday, May 15. Day passes may be bought at the gate. Adult tickets are $10, Seniors 60 and up are $5, and college students with current student ID and children under 12 may enter free.
To learn more about PJC’s baseball players and schedule, go to www.parisjc.edu/athletics and scroll down to select “Baseball Team” or “Baseball Schedule.” Tournament scores will be posted on the schedule page. Games will also be broadcast at www.tsbnsports.com and live stats followed at https://bit.ly/3DKI323.
