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JCCC baseball to open season ranked No. 8

JCCC head baseball coach goes to the mound to make a pitching change.
JCCC head baseball coach goes to the mound to make a pitching change.
Posted: Jan 23, 2024

OVERAND PARK, Kan. – The Johnson County Community College baseball team will open the season at No. 8 in the preseason National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I baseball poll, announced by the national committee Monday, January 22. The Cavaliers received 104 points in the preseason poll. Last week, the Cavaliers were picked as the preseason favorite to win the Kansas Jayhawk Conference East Division title this year.

Defending national champion College of Central Florida earned top spot, followed by national runner-up Wabash Valley College, Weatherford College, Blinn College and Walters State Community College. KJCCC Western Division favorite Barton Community College received votes.

Under the direction of head coach Eric Horner the Cavaliers have appeared in the NJCAA Preseason Poll in each of his four seasons, this year being the first in the top 10. He teams have been ranked in 28 of a possible 38 polls. Last year JCCC was ranked No. 2 in the final poll for the season. 

This past season, the Cavaliers reached the NJCAA D-I World Series for the third time in program history and the first since 2014. JCCC went 56-10, including a 30-3 mark in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference East Division to capture the program's 11th title. Their 56 wins set a new team mark and tie the second most in Kansas Jayhawk Conference history.

Johnson County finished second in the country with a .364 team batting average, fourth with a .466 on-base percentage, and sixth with 597 runs scored. As a team, the Cavaliers drew nearly as many walks (336) as they had strikeouts (346). On the mound, JCCC's 3.80 ERA ranked eighth nationally, piling up 601 strikeouts to finish fourth in the country. The Cavaliers team fielding percentage of .976 was the second-best mark in NJCAA Division 1.

Through three seasons at the helm, Horner has compiled a 145-37 record for a .797 winning percentage. His 145 wins are the most by any coach in Kansas Jayhawk Conference history through their first three seasons. All three years his teams opened the season ranked among the top-20 in the country, and this year they closed out the final rankings as the No. 2 team in the country.