OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – The Johnson County Community College baseball registered its third straight series win, and second consecutive series sweep by taking all four games against Kirkwood Community College over the weekend. The Cavaliers won by the scored of 14-0, 4-1, 6-5 and 18-13. With the sweep Johnson County improves to 15-1 on the season, tying only the 1979 Kansans with the best start to a season. The Cavaliers are currently hold the No. 14 spot in the NJCAA D-I Baseball Rankings.
The Cavaliers has several player shine over the four-game series, particularly infielder Brady Slavens, right-hander Drew Garrett, outfielder Nick Iannantone and left-hander Jay Long.
Slavens, the reigning Kansas Jayhawk Player of the Week, had another big series over the weekend. The Olathe Northwest product batted .600 (9-for-15) with two doubles, a triple, three home runs, six runs scored and 13 driven in over in four victories last week for the No. 13-ranked Cavaliers. In the final game of the series against Kirkwood, Slavens was 4-for-4 with a double, two home runs and six RBIs. For the season, Slavens is hitting .490 with 16 of his 25 hits have going for extra bases. He leads the conference and is tied for third with 28 RBIs. He also leads the conference and is tied third nationally with eight home runs.
Garrett did not allow a hit or a run in four innings on the bump and struck out 10 batters in a 14-0 shutout over Kirkwood. For the season, Garrett is 3-0 with 35 strikeouts and an ERA of 0.00. He has only allowed one hit in his four appearances.
Iannantone batted .500 (6-for-12) with a double, triple, five runs, four driven in and four stolen bases. For the season, Iannantone is hitting at a .464 clip (13-for-28) with two doubles, two triples, two homers, 13 runs scored and 10 driven in.
In the third game of the series, Long took over the hill in the middle of second inning with the Cavaliers trailing 4-0. In his 4.1 innings in relief, he allowed just one run off three hits and struck out nine Kirkwood batters to pick up his first collegiate victory. For the season, Long has made four appearances, logging 14.2 innings. In addition to his victory, he has a save, 23 strikeouts with an ERA of 1.23. His 14.11 strikeout per nine inning ratio ranks seventh in the conference.
Johnson County will open their Kansas Jayhawk Conference slate on Thursday, March 5 when the host a double-header against Labatte Community College. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. JCCC travels to Parsons on Saturday, March 7 for two more games against the Cardinals.