A berth in the NJCAA Division I Junior College World Series is at stake this week as Wabash Valley College hosts the NJCAA Northern District baseball championship.
The four-team double-elimination tournament, which begins Wednesday at Fournier Field, brings together four Region winners including the homestanding Warriors, who are 52-6 on the season and ranked second in the country.
WVC and John A. Logan both come in as split Region 24 winners. Ninth-ranked Iowa Western, the winner from Region 11, joins the field as well as Region 4 champion South Suburban.
The tourney opens at 12 noon on Wednesday when John A. Logan (41-15) meets South Suburban (41-17). The Top 10 battle between WVC and Iowa Western (47-12) follows at 3 p.m.
The losers of the first two games meet in the first elimination game on Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m. The winners play next at 12:30 p.m., with the second elimination game at 3:30 p.m.
The tourney will be down to two teams by Friday, with the championship game at 12 noon and, if necessary, another game at 3 p.m.
A trip to the NJCAA Junior College World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado awaits the winner. Play there begins on Monday, May 28th.
Wabash Valley, coached by NJCAA Hall of Fame inductee Rob Fournier, defeated Olney Central 9-7 in the Region 24 title game on Sunday. The Warriors come in riding an eight-game winning streak.
They are the NJCAA's best in several offensive categories, including batting (.399), runs scored (637), hits (727), and RBIs (574). Their OBP of .508 is second best, and they are third in the country with 36 sacrifice hits, the biggest of the year coming on Saturday when a walk-off SAC fly in the 10th inning defeated Southwestern Illinois, 7-6.
Warriors are atop the individual leader board as well. Jonathan Hogart leads the country in hitting (.477), with teammate Bradke Lohry third at .465. Brian Kalmer leads in RBIs with 93.
Then there is starting pitcher Jacob Bimbi. His eight-inning, one-run, four-hit start against Kaskaskia on Friday vaulted him to first on the ERA list at 1.19. Bimbi, with the win, is now 10-1 on the year.
Iowa Western had its' seven-game winning streak snapped in a 10-7 Region 11 tourney loss to Indian Hills, forcing a winner-take-all follow-up. The Reivers immediately shook off the loss, dusting up Indian Hills, 20-1, led by a two-homer, seven-RBI game from Dylan Peterson.
Veteran coach Marc Rardin is in his 20th season at the helm of Iowa Western, the only Northern District team ever to win the national championship (three times - in 2010, 2012 and 2014).
The Reivers team ERA of 2.85 is the third lowest in the country, and a collective 11 shutouts is the fourth-highest total this season.
Brant Hogue may lead the way on the stat sheet with six wins, but an impressive 20 different Reivers hurlers have picked up at least one victory.
John A. Logan, directed by six-year head coach Kyle Surprenant, finished second behind Wabash Valley in the Great Rivers Athletic Conference. The Volunteers, like Iowa Western, had to shake off a loss in the Region 24 B tourney, turning the winner-take-all affair with Rend Lake into a 16-0 rout.
The Vols were 1-2 against Wabash Valley during the regular season, and they swept District opponent South Suburban in a February three-game series in Carterville.
Logan is led at the dish by Bryson Arnette, who leads the club with 14 home runs and 56 RBIs. And on the hill the Vols have two big winners anchoring the staff: Tommy Henninger (8-0) and Mitchel Hemmen (7-1).
South Suburban had a weekend-long battle with Triton in the Region 4 tourney. After the Bulldogs won the first meeting between the two on Friday, 7-5, Triton countered with a 7-5 verdict of its' own on Saturday. The winner-take-all showdown went to the 12th inning, when the Bulldogs pushed across one run in the top half and made it stand for a 9-8 victory.
South Suburban thought it had things finished off with four runs in the top off the 11th, only to have Triton match it in the home half and extend the game.
The Bulldogs finished 0-5 vs. Region 24 teams, losing three to John A. Logan and two at Vincennes.
NJCAA Hall of Fame coach Steve Ruzich has turned the Bulldogs into frequent flyers in the District tournament. His teams have won 14 Region 4 titles in his 37 years at the helm. Ruzich has won 1,268 games at the Chicagoland school.
James Burke has the second-most wins of any pitcher in the field, with nine.
Nicholas Johnstone leads in home runs with six, and his RBI total of 52 is second on the team behind Jacob Mucha's 58.
SSC likes to run. They have 115 stolen bases on the season, with three players over the 20-mark. In fact, Bradley White has not been caught yet in 21 steal attempts.
Wabash Valley last won the Northern District title in 2017, on a dramatic suicide-squeeze in the bottom of the ninth to eke out a 1-0 victory over Indian Hills, Iowa.
Iowa Western won the next two crowns, in 2018 and 2019, before COVID-19 wiped out the entire national tournament in 2020.
Indian Hills won the title last year.
Admission is $5 per day, or tournament passes can be purchased at the gate for $12.
The WVC Athletic Department will be selling cheeseburgers, hamburgers, BBQ, hot dogs, and drinks.
