If there was ever the right baseball team playing at the right time in the right place, it’s the Jefferson College Vikings.
But if Jefferson is going to win its first World Series title, its going to have to travel about a mile high to get it.
The Vikings will make their fourth appearance in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I World Series on Saturday against Barton (Kan.), a 47-13 team that is making its debut in the tournament.
All World Series games will be played in Grand Junction, Colo., which sits 4,593 feet above sea level. That’s just 687 feet shy of one mile.
Because the ball travels farther in that thin air, Jefferson, seeking its first national championship, should find a suitable environment to continue its wall-clearing ways. Led by redshirt freshman Joey Polak’s school-record 30 home runs, the Vikings have hit 79 round-trippers and are 15th in the nation among Division I teams.
In the South Central District Tournament in Seminole, Okla., last week, Jefferson College (53-10-1) bashed its way to Colorado with three wins in four games of the double-elimination tournament. The Vikings hit nine homers in the four contests.
After crushing Delgado Community College of New Orleans 19-4 in Sunday’s deciding game of the district tournament, the Vikings climbed on a bus at 8:30 p.m. and were deposited back on the Hillsboro campus about 4:30 a.m. Monday.
They’ll take a 17-hour bus ride from Hillsboro to Grand Junction on Wednesday, after the Leader deadline, and have two full days of practice before playing Saturday.
“Playing in Grand Junction, you’ve got the higher elevation, the field plays fast and you need pitching depth, which I think we have,” said Jefferson head coach Pat Evers, who was an assistant on 2011 and 2012 teams, both of which advanced to the World Series.
There will be a fair share of distractions for the Vikings, including team photos, a clinic and a banquet. But Evers said this seasoned group won’t be distracted.
When Jefferson made it to Grand Junction in 2011, Evers said the team didn’t arrive until late on Friday and had to turn around and play the next day. The Vikings dropped their first two games and headed home.
“The payoff for the long bus ride is we get to adjust to everything,” Evers said. “From a coaching standpoint, we like the extra days to prepare.
“The drive is a lot of fun once you get to Denver. It’s a scenic, fun drive. We’ll leave early in the morning and hopefully get some sleep and wake up around lunch time by the time we’re about to leave Kansas,” he said.
Nine other teams – Barton, Walters State (Tenn.), Monroe (N.Y.), Chipola (Fla.), Iowa Western, Chattahoochee Valley (Ala.), San Jacinto-North (Texas), Temple (Texas) and Southern Idaho – are vying for the Division I championship.
Chipola scored the most runs (87) ever in a seven-game series and defeated San Jacinto-North for last year’s title.
“You’ll see a lot of games that end 13-12, or along those types of scores,” Evers said.
Scoring isn’t a problem for the Vikings, who are fourth in the nation with 595 runs. When they’re not hitting the ball over the fence, Jefferson players often are spraying the outfield barricade with doubles. The Vikings are fourth among Division I teams with 150 two-baggers. Polak and freshman Nick Hagedorn each lead the team with 19.
In the district tournament, the Vikings beat Delgado 12-1 and Seminole State 7-1 on Friday and only used two pitchers.
In the first meeting against the Dolphins, Jefferson scored 10 runs in the first two innings and cruised to a five-inning victory under the mercy rule, which was not in play during Sunday’s rematch finale.
Seckman graduate Josh Ray was the winning pitcher for the Vikings in the first game, throwing all five innings, striking out seven and scattering three hits. Polak, Dalton Doyle and Raul Elguezabal all hit home runs.
Freshman right-hander Jason Rackers improved to 10-1 this season after throwing a complete game in the win over Seminole State. The Vikings trailed 1-0 going into the fourth, but Doyle hit his second homer of the tournament and was 3-for-5 at the plate. Sophomore Justin Perkins was 4-for-5 and stole a base.
With the two wins, Jefferson needed only to beat Delgado once on Saturday, but the Dolphins were ready and held off the Vikings 12-2. Starting pitcher Riley Boyd lasted 1/3 an inning, allowing six earned runs on three hits and two walks. Reliever Bailey Vuylsteke didn’t fair any better, surrendering five runs in 1/3 inning.
“We had a couple of bad breaks. Riley didn’t get hit hard; there was a blooper here and a chopper over Raul’s head (at third base),” Evers said.
With a trip to the World Series on the line Sunday, the Vikings didn’t let the Dolphins up for air and scored at least one run in every inning but the seventh. Jefferson closed out the 19-4 rout with four runs in the ninth.
Polak, Elguezabal and catcher Jacob Kalusniak all slugged home runs. Doyle was 2-for-6 with a triple, capping a four-game stretch in which he batted .500 with seven RBIs.
Starting pitcher Austin Hicks improved to 10-0 despite surrendering three home runs. Reliever Austin Cheeley shut out the Dolphins over his three innings with four strikeouts.
“You might overlook Austin’s (Hicks’) effort because we scored 19 runs, but he did a great job of limiting the damage,” Evers said.
Polak and Perkins are in the running for All-American honors this season. Polak had three hits, including a double and homer and five RBIs, in Sunday’s game.
Evers said opponents must pitch to Polak because Perkins and leadoff batter Matt Turino are usually already on base when he digs into the batter’s box. Perkins is among the national leaders in runs scored with 86.
“(Delgado) had a 3-0 count on (Polak on Sunday) and the bases loaded and you know they’re going to throw you something in the strike zone and (Polak) hits a double and clears the bases,” Evers said.