Midland College Chaps Baseball Wins WJCAC Title, Clinches #1 West Seed in Region 5 Tournament

Midland College Baseball

Monday, May 6, 2024

Midland, TX

The Midland College baseball team pushed through weather-related game postponements and the opportunity to win their first WJCAC title since 2019 during their four-game conference series versus Western Texas College. 

The weekend began with Midland College and New Mexico Junior College in a tie for first place in the conference standings, each at 24-8.  The Chaparrals held the tiebreaker due to winning three of four games versus the NMJC Thunderbirds, head-to-head.  NMJC was scheduled to play a Friday double-header versus Odessa College in Hobbs followed by two games Saturday at Odessa.    

The conference series, which was the final regular season games of the season, was originally scheduled to be played in Snyder on Friday with the final two games on Saturday in Midland.  Mother Nature had other plans for the weekend.  

Friday's double-header started out in Snyder, as scheduled, with the Chaparrals defeating the Westerners 13-1 in 5 innings.  By the time the first game ended, adverse weather moved into the area.  Ultimately the day's second game was suspended in the 3rd inning and the score tied at 1-1, due to lightning and rains in Snyder.  New Mexico Junior College lost Friday's first game 11-6 and rebounded for a 14-2 win over the Wranglers.  

Because Saturday's games were to be played in Midland both sides agreed to resume play in the suspended game in Midland beginning on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. followed by the regularly scheduled double-header.  The Chaps won the suspended game by a score of 8-6, thus moving MC to a one game advantage in the conference standings.  

The first game of Satuday's double-header was a hard-fought, test of wills.  WTC held a 1-0 lead from the top of the 2nd inning until the bottom of the 7th inning.  In the bottom of the 7th scored tied at 1-1, two outs, bases loaded, MC freshman Hudson Grace came in to pinch hit.  Grace singled to right field, driving in Brock Tijerina to steal the win for Midland College by a score of 2-1.  The win secured the outright WJCAC title for the Chaparrals (their first since 2019).  

Following Saturday's dramatic win versus WTC, Midland College honored their 14 departing sophomore team members.  The sophomore team members include:  Jake Martinez (Corpus Christi, TX), Kyle Lewis (Lubbock, TX), Carson Laws (San Antonio, TX), Tijerina (Andrews, TX), Trace Holcomb (Weatherford, TX), Tyler Boudreau (Canada), Cody Edwards (San Antonio, TX), Caden Cline (Lubbock, TX), Blake Hollingshead (New Braunfels, TX), Justin Rumfield (Denton, TX), Daniel Bass (Melissa, TX), Xavier Melendez (Odessa, TX), Holt Gibson (Lubbock, TX) and Matt Guthmiller (Omaha, NE).  

Once again Mother Nature reared her head with lightning strikes detected approximately 2 miles of the stadium.  After a one-hour wait, the game was moved to Sunday at 12:00 p.m. at Christensen Stadium. 

Sunday's game was a one-sided win for the Chaps (15-3 in six innings), improving Midland College's season record to 40-14 on the season and 28-8 in conference.  NMJC and Odessa College split their final two games, giving the Chaps a two full-game lead in the final WJCAC standings.  It also gave MC the #1 seed from the WJCAC headed into the Region 5 Baseball Tournament in Waco, TX (May 10-14).    

Aside from Midland College three other WJCAC teams also advanced to the Region 5 Tournament:  New Mexico Junior College (38-16), Howard College (32-19) and New Mexico Military Institue (29-26).  The NTJCAC qualifiers include:  Weatherford College (43-13), McLennan Community College (39-17), Grayson College (29-24) and Cisco College (35-18).  

2024 NJCAA Region 5 Baseball Tournament Information:

Midland College will play Cisco College in the first round of the tournament on Friday, May 10 at 4:00 p.m.  Cisco College was the #4 seed from the NTJCAC. 

For a complete tournament bracket:
https://njcaaregion5.com/information/championship_info 

All games from the NJCAA Region 5 Baseball Tournament will be streamed live from:

https://www.centexsportsnetwork.com/news/njcaa-region-5-tournament  

Go Chaps!