OZARK – Top-seeded Wallace State baseball dropped its Alabama Community College Conference/Region 22 semifinal game to Shelton State on Wednesday night, falling 6-4 at Eagle Stadium.

Wallace State (40-16) loaded the bases with one out in the top of the ninth, but catcher Andrew Dennis grounded into a game-ending double play to preserve the win for the rival Bucs, who entered the tournament as the Northern Division's No. 2 seed after a regular-season tie with the Lions.

Wallace State must now win Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the elimination bracket in order to advance to Friday’s championship round. The Lions will play the winner of Chattahoochee Valley-Southern Union game, which is set for 4 p.m.

On Wednesday, Wallace State grabbed an early first-inning lead on a RBI force groundout by Jake Montgomery.

Shelton State exploded for four unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth, stringing together three two-out hits. Terrance Dedrick started the scoring with an RBI double, J.C. Wilhite followed with an RBI single and Greg Howard capped the scoring with a two-run double.

Wallace State chipped away at the deficit, trimming it to 4-3 in the fifth on a Jud Sherrill RBI single. Shelton State responded with single runs in the sixth and seventh innings.

Steven Glasgow earned the save for Shelton State, pitching the final two innings.

Sherrill was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs for the Lions, Nathan Vincent was 3-for-3 with two walks and a run, Montgomery had a pair of hits and an RBI and Davis Blair, Brodie Jeffery and Conner McCain each had singles.

Friday’s championship game is set for 1 p.m., and Shelton State will have to lose twice.

For more information about Wallace State athletics, visit wallacestate.edu.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The 2012 NJCAA Division III World Series is set with eight talented teams ready to compete for a national championship at Mike Carter Field in Tyler, Texas May 19-25. This year’s bracket features several prominent teams, including Tyler Junior College (Texas) who has served as the host of the tournament since 2007.

Fans can follow the eight-team double-elimination tournament via the official tournament website. Once there fans will be able to access live updates, stats and more.

Live video and play-by-play of each game can be seen LIVE on NJCAA TV (www.njcaatv.ihigh.com) thanks the Tyler Junior College and the Texas Sports Radio Network.

Six of the eight teams in this year’s bracket have participated in the tournament within the last three years. Joliet JC (Ill.) and Gloucester County College (N.J.) are both returning from the 2011 event. Montgomery College-Germantown (Md.), Nassau CC (N.Y.) and Tyler all competed in the 2010 event while Northern Essex CC (Mass.) qualified in 2009. Niagara County CC (N.Y.) last appeared in the tournament in 2006 and St. Cloud TCC (Minn.) is the lone team this year making its debut.

Top-ranked Gloucester County College (N.J.) is returning to Tyler for the third consecutive season. The Roadrunners finished as the national runner-up in 2011 after claiming the title 2010. GCC is 46-9 overall and has represented District G/Region 19 in the DIII World Series 18 times in the 21-year history of the tournament.

Play begins on Saturday, May 19^th with first round games. The tournament starts with a great matchup between No. 3 Tyler and No. 2 St. Cloud. Other first round matchups include Joliet vs. Nassau, Niagara vs. Gloucester and Montgomery-Germantown vs. Northern Essex.

The national semifinal contest is slated for Monday, May 21^st followed by the consolation finale the evening of Tuesday, May 22^nd. The first national championship game will be played on Wednesday, May 23^rd at 7 p.m. The second national title game (if necessary) will be played on Thursday, May 24^th.

ABOUT the NJCAA
Since 1938 the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) has been the governing body of two-year college athletics, offering athletic and academic opportunities to college students. Now entering its 75^th anniversary, the NJCAA is the second largest national intercollegiate athletic organization in the United States with over 500 member schools in 43 states. Each year over 60,000 student-athletes compete in one of 28 different sports and the organization sponsors 48 national championship events and nine football bowl games. NJCAA Headquarters has been located in Colorado Springs, Colo., since 1985. For more information visit www.njcaa.org.

From Allan Simpson, Perfect Game USA -

The latest Perfect Game JUCO Top 50 can be found at http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=7013

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Five-Pack Remains Unshakeable At Top of Rankings

On March 26, California’s Orange Coast College settled in as the nation’s No. 1-ranked junior-college team. By April 10, Iowa Western, Walters State (Tenn.), Howard (Texas) and Polk State (Fla.) established themselves as the Nos. 2-5-ranked clubs in the country.

That quintet has continued to play at such a high level since that there has been no movement of any kind at the top of Perfect Game’s national ranking of the nation’s Top 50 junior-college teams.

Even as post-season tournament play is well underway on numerous fronts nationally and 16 of the top 50 teams have been eliminated from championship contention, the Big Five continue to win at a dizzying pace, and are a collective 230-38 through games of Sunday.

By winning one of two southern California super-regionals over the weekend, Orange Coast (36-5) has advanced to California’s Final Four this coming weekend in Bakersfield, Calif., and conceivably could clinch the No. 1 ranking in the country before the showcase event of junior-college baseball, the Junior College World Series, scheduled for May 26-June 2 in its traditional home of Grand Junction, Colo., has even begun. California teams are not members of the National Junior College Athletic Association, and ineligible to play in the national tournament.

Should Orange Coast falter, there are plenty of contenders for the No. 1 national ranking, led by the four teams most closely in pursuit of the Pirates. All have Grand Junction on their mind.

Of the four, No. 5 Polk State (45-10) was the only team, through games of Sunday, to punch its ticket to the 10-team Junior College World Series, though Kansas’ No. 16-ranked Neosho County (47-14) became the second team Monday by winning the NJCAA Region 6 title. Polk County won the rugged Region 8 tournament—effectively, the Florida state junior-college championship—a week ago.

Meanwhile, No. 2 Iowa Western (54-4) needs to win the three-team Northern District championship (Iowa, Illinois) this week to earn a trip to Grand Junction, while No. 3 Walters State (52-9) must do the same in the three-team East Central District (Tennessee, Georgia) and No. 4 Howard (43-10) will need to follow suit in Region 5 (west Texas), already underway. All three teams have a championship lineage as Walters State won the Junior College World Series in 2006, Howard in 2009 and Iowa Western in 2010.

Perhaps the most hotly-contested junior-college tournament (Western District) will be played this weekend in Salt Lake City, involving No. 6 Central Arizona (47-13), the Region 1 champion; No. 7 Salt Lake (43-8), the Region 18 champion; Colorado’s No. 26 Lamar (47-10), the Region 9 champion; and No. 13 Western Nevada (44-15), the runner-up team to Salt Lake in Region 18. The winner moves on to Grand Junction.

That four-team field should hold additional appeal as Western Nevada features the No. 1-ranked junior-college player in the nation in righthander Dylan Baker, who is regarded by scouts as a fringe first-round pick for the June 4-6 draft.

As the No. 1 team, Orange Coast is not lacking in talent itself as it boasts as many as 6-7 players who could be drafted, including righthander Brandon Brennan, outfielder Chris Carlson and outfielder/lefthander Bijan Rademacher, all possible selections in the first 10 rounds. Howard, Perfect Game’s No. 1-ranked team at the outset of the 2012 season, is the only other junior-college team with a realistic chance of producing as many as three players in the top 10 rounds in righthanders Reid Scoggins and Clayton Crum, and lefthander Logan Ehlers, all of whom have reached the high-90s. The fast-charging Scoggins joins Baker as the two junior-college pitchers in the nation this spring that have topped out at 100 mph.

Post-season tournament play continues on a number of fronts this week as teams contend for various championships beyond the NJCAA Division I level and state level, as applicable to California.

The NJCAA Division II and Division III national tournaments have also gotten underway, with the D-II World Series scheduled for Enid, Okla., May 26-June 2 and D-III World Series slated for Tyler, Texas, beginning Saturday. LSU-Eunice (48-4) is the top-ranked D-II team in the Perfect Game Top 50, holding steady at No. 10.

Teams in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges, consisting of 28 junior colleges in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, will contend for their own championship, beginning this weekend. Defending champion Bellevue (Wash.) CC is the NWAACC’s top-ranked team at No. 33.

To follow the respective tournaments, please link to the following websites:

www.njcaa.org
www.cccaasports.org
www.nwaacc.org

OZARK – Wallace State right-hander Bret Marks didn’t feel like he had his best stuff on the mound Monday afternoon in the Lions’ opening game of the Alabama Community College Conference/Region 22 tournament at Eagle Stadium in Ozark.

Chattahoochee Valley batters probably disagreed.

Marks tossed a gem. He went 8 1/3 dominant innings, striking out nine, walking one and scattering three hits as top-seeded Wallace State edged CVCC 2-1 and advanced in the winner’s bracket. The Lions (39-15) are one of three top seeds in the tournament and play Faulkner State, the Southern Division’s top seed, at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

“I’ve definitely felt better this year on the mound than I did today, but grinded it out. Andrew Dennis did an unbelievable job behind the plate and my defense did its job. It was a nail-biter,” Marks said. “I didn’t know for sure I was going to get the start until Sunday and was excited. Once you get into the postseason, you want to perform as well as you can.”

Marks improved to 10-4 on the season, throwing 130 pitches before being relieved by Cade Medley with one out in the ninth. Medley stranded a runner in scoring position to notch his first save of the season, getting the first hitter to strikeout and inducing a groundball to end the game.

“The bottom line was Bret Marks pitched his tail off today (Monday). He pitched like he has been all year and got past a hard team to beat. We had plenty of opportunities offensively to make life easier for us, but for whatever reason couldn’t get any more runs across,” said Wallace State coach Randy Putman. “You’ve got to tip our hat to our pitching and defense. That was the difference.”

Wallace State scored its pair of runs in the fourth on a two-out, two-run double by Dennis. His sinking line drive eluded the CVCC left fielder and allowed Nathan Vincent and Jud Sherrill to score, both whom reached on walks.
CVCC chipped into the deficit in the top of the sixth for the final run of the game.

Dennis finished 2-for-4, Cade Medley and Grant Bennett each had two hits, Sherrill had a single and two walks and Conner McCain added a single.

Clint Spratlin was the tough luck loser for the Pirates, going six innings and allowing both runs.

The tournament championship is scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m.

For more information about the Wallace State athletics, visit wallacestate.edu.

TYLER, Texas – The Jones County Junior College Lady Bobcats finished 21^st in the NJCAA Division I Tennis Tournament, which concluded here Thursday afternoon at Tyler Junior College.

In the finals of the No. 1 singles consolation round on Thursday, JCJC’s Alicia Domoney fell to Dariya Dashutina of Seward County Community College (Kan.), 6-2, 6-0. In the finals of the No. 3 doubles consolation round, JCJC’s Aja White and Lauren Carpenter lost to Lacey Lapp and Abby Martinez of State College of Florida of Bradenton, Fla., 6-1, 6-1.

The host Tyler team won the championship with 47 points, while State College of Florida was second with 42 points. Meridian Community College finished 14^th with 16.5 points, while Itawamba Community College was 17^th with 10.5 points.

The Lady Bobcats tied with South Carolina-Lancaster with 7.5 points.

The tournament was held at the Murphy Tennis Center and Brookshire Courts.

For more information on the tournament, go to www.njcaa.org.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – A six-run deficit in the second inning of an elimination game could have most teams thinking about their season coming to an end. Walters State is not most teams.

The 11th ranked Senators fell behind 6-0 in the second inning to Volunteer State but rolled off 13 straight runs to take a commanding lead as they eliminated the Pioneers 13-9 and advanced to the TCCAA/NJCAA Region VII title game.

With the win, Walters State improves to 51-9 on the season, and they will take on the winner of No. 6 Columbia State and Dyersburg State in the championship game at 2 p.m. Friday.

The Pioneers (34-21) jumped on top with a big second inning that knocked Walters State starter Cody Poarch out of the game. Tyler Foster ripped an RBI single, Mike Lebo added a two-run double. Tyler Noland drove in a run with a two-bagger while Brent Morris and Josh Macurdy each added an RBI single to give Vol State a quick 6-0 lead.

The lead did not last. In the bottom of the third, the Senators used six hits and a pair of fielding miscues by the Pioneers to knot the score at 6.

Marcus Davis got Walters State on the board with a two-run double, and Shane Riley followed with an RBI double of his own. Reid Mathews and Taylor Martin added RBI singles, and Matt Harrell drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to help tie it at 6.

Walters State quickly took the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Marcus Davis led off the frame with a towering home run to right field that landed on the softball field to put the Senators on top.

Riley, Michael Davis and Mathews followed with singles to load the bases, and Ryan Webster narrowly missed a grand slam, hitting the top of the wall for a two-run double. Harrell added a second sacrifice fly to make it 10-6.

The Senators added another run in the fifth. Jake Ellison reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Riley to extend the lead to 11-6.

Walters State added to the lead once again in the sixth with a pair of runs. Harrell smacked an RBI single and scored on a double by Kendall Keeton to make it 13-6.

Noland tagged a two-run double in the seventh for Vol State, and Macurdy drove in a run with a grounder in the eighth to cut the lead to 13-9, but Senators closer Chase Cunningham shut the door on the Pioneers by recording the final five outs to end their season.

Riley and Mathews had four hit apiece for the Senators, while Marcus Davis added three hits and Webster and Keeton had two hits each in the win.

Zach Bernard (2-0) picked up the win in relief, as he tossed 6.1 innings for his longest outing of the season. He surrendered five earned runs on 11 hits, and Cunningham notched the save after retiring all five batters he faced. Poarch allowed four earned runs on four hits in one-plus inning.

Logan Dalton had three hits to lead the Pioneers, while Noland, Michael Massi, Jonathan Allison and Ryan Johnson each had two hits in the loss.

Jake Harper took the loss for the Pioneers after giving up four earned runs on six hits in one inning of relief. Starter Zac Curtis lasted only 2.1 innings after giving up six runs – three earned – on six hits.