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JCCC baseball punches ticket to NJCAA World Series

JCCC baseball team celebrates after winning District Championship last season
JCCC baseball team celebrates after winning District Championship last season

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – The Johnson County Community College baseball team punched its ticket to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) World Series on Sunday evening at Eck Stadium on the campus of Wichita State University.

The Cavaliers defeated Cowley College 11-2 in the Region 6 Plains District Championship. The NJCAA World Series begins May 27 in Grand Junction, Colo., and runs through June 3. This is JCCC's third time to qualify for the NJCAA World Series. Their other two trips were in 2008 and 2014. 

In the championship win over the Tigers, Johnson County plated two runs in the bottom of the third and three more in the fourth. They added two more in the sixth he iced the title with four runs in the eighth. Cowley scored single runs in the fifth and seventh innings. 

Catcher Shea McGahan and left fielder Cooper Combs had the hot bats in the championship game. McGahan went 4-for-4 with a walk, a run scored and four RBI. Combs belted a two-run homer in the third and added two more singles and scored twice.

First baseman Ryan Callahan collected two hits, a walk, scored four runs and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the third inning. Center fielder Jesse Tisdell and third baseman Jeremy Rader each drove in a run as well. 

On the mound, left-hander Luc Fladda pushed his record to 12-0 on the season. He scattered seven hits allowing just two runs with three strikeouts over his nine innings of work.

The Cavaliers run to the title began with a 7-3 victor over Seward County on Wednesday, May 17, then rallied for a 12-10 win over Butler on Thursday.  JCCC trailed 7-2 after the top of the fourth inning but scored 10 runs over the next four innings to advance to the semifinals. Callahan ripped a two run double in the sixth to put Johnson County up 11-10, and McGahan blasted a solo home over the left field wall to make it 12-10. 

JCCC advanced to the championship game with a 2-0 win over Cowley in the semifinals on Saturday, then the Tigers forced a second championship game by downing the Cavaliers 7-2 on Sunday afternoon.