Johnson County Baseball Earns Third Straight Trip To NJCAA D1 Baseball JUCO World Series

Outscoring opponents 37-11 across four games, the Johnson County Community College baseball team clinched their third consecutive NJCAA Division 1 Baseball Plains District Tournament Championship by going unbeaten at Dean Evans Field in Salina, Kansas, to earn a spot in the 10-team NJCAA Division 1 Baseball JUCO World Series Field.

The third consecutive district title for the Cavaliers will send JCCC to Grand Junction, Colorado, and Sam Suplizio Field as the tournament will take place May 24-31, 2025. Johnson County is making its fifth trip to Grand Junction in program history, with the Cavaliers having earned two wins (one win in each of the past two years) in their previous trips to the World Series.

JCCC’s four wins in Salina came against four different opponents as the Cavaliers earned their way into the eight-team tournament after winning the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference East Division regular season title and number two seed in the tournament which was followed by defeating number 15 seed Garden City Community College 2-0 in a best two-out-of-three series May 7-8 in Overland Park. Opening their tournament on May 13th against Fort Scott Community College, the Cavaliers made quick work of the Greyhounds as starting pitcher Josiah Golden threw a complete-game two-hit shutout while seeing the JCCC offense blast four home runs as part of a 13-0 run-rule victory in five innings.

Facing another KJCCC East Division foe in the winner’s bracket, Johnson County also took care of business against the number six seed Kansas City Kansas after seeing the Blue Devils upset three-seed Cloud County in the opening game of the tournament to advance to face JCCC for a fifth time this season. After taking three of four games from Kansas City Kansas in the regular season, the Cavalier offense stayed hot by scoring three runs in the bottom of the first and allowing Christian Bobzin to work four innings with the lead before turning things over to Keston Holman who struck out nine in the final four innings of play as JCCC went on to win by a score of 9-1 in eight innings.

Following another upset on the opposite side of the bracket that saw KJCCC West Division regular season champion Barton Community College go 0-2 to end their tournament, Johnson County met up with number four seed Cowley College in the winner’s bracket final as a berth in the championship game was on the line against the Tigers. The regular season series between JCCC and Cowley saw the Cavaliers drop three of four games, with the lone win coming by virtue of a 1-0 shutout, along with two of the other three games being decided by two or fewer runs. Despite recording a base hit in each of the first three innings, Johnson County was held off the scoreboard in each of the first four innings while seeing Cowley jump out to a 5-0 lead heading to the fifth.

A leadoff home run for Ryker Edwards in the bottom of the fifth sparked the Cavalier offense as four runs came across in the bottom of the inning on three hits and a Cowley error to bring JCCC back within a run at 5-4 while seeing the game get turned over to both team’s bullpens on the mound. Cowley added to their lead in the top of the seventh with a one-out RBI single from Seth Dandridge before stranding a pair of runners which allowed Johnson County to put together a one-out rally in the bottom half of the inning by having seven consecutive batters safely reach base as part of a five-run inning to go up 9-6.

Working around a leadoff hit batter followed by a walk, Johnson County managed to strand the bases loaded for Cowley in the top of the eighth to maintain their three-run lead before ending the game in the top of the ninth with a game-ending double play after seeing the Tigers put two one-out base runners aboard with the victory keeping JCCC’s unbeaten postseason record intact.

Awaiting their opponent in the championship game, Johnson County saw for the second-straight season a team come back through the elimination bracket after losing their first game of the tournament, with Cloud County managing to defeat Kansas City Kansas and #8 in the nation Cowley, to advance to their first Plains District Tournament title game. Meeting for the first time this season and the fifth season in a row after not playing a regular season contest against each other, Johnson County struck first with a two-run home run from Easton Roe in the bottom of the second to go up 2-0 heading to the third. Cloud County cut the JCCC in half with a solo home run in the top of the third before putting up a crooked number in the top of the fourth as a one-out walk was the first of five straight batters to reach base with three runs coming across on four hits to put the T-Birds up 4-2.

The two-run deficit for Johnson County was short-lived as a one-out sacrifice fly was followed by an unearned run coming home to score after a fielding error by Cloud County, which allowed JCCC to tie the game up at 4-4 heading into the fifth. After keeping CCCC off the scoreboard by stranding two runners to end the top half of the inning, the Cavaliers went down in order before reclaiming the lead in the bottom of the sixth as Edwards once again came through with a home run to put Johnson County up 5-4.

Another key defensive stand came for Johnson County in the top of the seventh as Cloud County once again threatened to push runs across with a two-out single, a hit batter, and a walk loading the bases. Turning to Holman to try and shut the door once more in the tournament, the freshman got a strikeout to end the inning and strand the bases loaded. Plating an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth with Roe hitting a solo home run down the right-field line, Johnson County didn’t need long in the top of the ninth as an aggressive plate approach from Cloud County led to a lineout and pair of flyouts to end the game while seeing Johnson County not need the if-necessary game for the first time in three years to secure their spot in the World Series.

Five Cavalier players earned their way onto the 2025 NJCAA Plains District All-Tournament Team, with Golden, Holman, Miken Miller, Roe, and Bo Shinkle all earning honors for their play during the tournament. Holman was named the Tournament MVP after earning three saves in his three appearances in the tournament with seven shutout innings and 11 total strikeouts. Miller, meanwhile, drove in seven runs and had four hits during the tournament, while Roe had four of his five hits go for extra bases, and Shinkle had a .647 on-base percentage while hitting .500 during the tournament. Golden earned his spot on the All-Tournament team after throwing the lone complete game of the tournament with six strikeouts as part of a two-hit shutout that was thrown against Fort Scott.

Johnson County will now await its official seeding among the 10 teams that have qualified for the 2025 NJCAA Division 1 Baseball JUCO World Series. Other teams to qualify for this year’s World Series include Walters State (TN), Florence Darlington Tech, Lake Land (IL), Shelton State (AL), Florida SouthWestern, Eastern Oklahoma State, McClennan, Salt Lake Community College, and reigning National Champion Blinn College.