Midland College Baseball's Magical Post-Season Run Ends in Region 5 Championship Game, Posts 44 Wins in 2024

Midland College Baseball

NJCAA Region 5 Baseball Tournament

May 10-14, 2024

Waco, TX

After securing the WJCAC regular season title, the first since 2019, the MC Chaps baseball team and coaches were focused on putting together a strong run of games at the Region 5 Tournament and advancing to the National Tournament for the first time since 2014.  First things first for the Chaparrals, was the Region 5 Tournament in Waco, TX (hosted by McLennan Community College) which features eight super-talented teams along with some of the NJCAA's top two-year college baseball athletes.

Midland College opened the tournament versus Cisco College, the #4 seed from the NTJCAC.  After several hours long delays due to rain and lightening, the Chaps and Wranglers finally successfully completed their game, with MC losing by a score of 8-2.  The Region 5 Tournament is an eight team, double-elimination event.  Therefore the Chaps needed to win four straight contests to emerge as the tournament champion and advance to the national tournament in Grand Junction, CO.  In the opening round game with Cisco, MC ace Tyler Boudreau suffered a rare loss and the Midland College bats were unusually quiet, recording only four hits in the game.  

Following the opening game loss to Cisco, the Chaps found themselves battling uphill against a formidable slate of teams, each attempting to avoid a second loss and ultimately being eliminated from the post-season.  

Next up was a matchup with conference foe Howard College.  Midland College defeated the Hawks 10-5 led by the pitching of Daniel Bass and by the hitting of Xavier Melendez.  With the win over Howard, Midland advanced to play a rematch with Cisco College.  The Chaps exacted a measure of revenge against the Wranglers by a score of 12-1 in five innnings.  MC's Holt Gibson recorded the pitching win while Justin Rumfield went 3 for 4 at the plate (5 RBI) including a homerun. 

Following the win versus Cisco the Chaps drew WJCAC-rival New Mexico Junior College.  Midland College defeated NMJC 6-5 to advance in the tournament to face Weatherford College in the Regional semi-final game.  In the NMJC game, MC second baseman Melendez swatted two dingers in the one run win versus the T-Birds.  The Chaparrals would next face the #5 nationally ranked Weatherford College Coyotes.  WC was the 2024 NTJCAC regular season champion, which set the stage for a matchup of the two conference champions.  The Coyotes would prove to be a very strong opponent for the Chaparrals.  MC sophomore outfielder Brock Tijerina provided the necessary offensive punch, going 204 at the plate and driving in five runs, to lead the Chaps.  The Chaparrals managed to hold on to defeat the Coyotes, 8-6, and moved forward in the tournament to the championship game where they would face #17 ranked McLennan Community College on their home field.  

The Midland College versus McLennan Community College championship game proved to be a high-level competition between two of the nation's top two-year programs.  The Chaps and Highlanders faced one another on April 15th in a midweek matchup in Abilene.  Fans witnessed a well-played game with the Chaparrals leading in the contest through five innings.  The Highlanders exploded in the top of the 6th, posting five runs, to pull away in the game.  The game ended with McLennan CC finishing on top by a score of 9-5 to end the Chaparrals season.  Midland College finished the regular season at 44-16.

Final Season Stats (Individual):
https://www.njcaa.org/sports/bsb/2023-24/div1/teams/midlandcollege?view=lineup 

Final Season Stats (Team):  
https://www.njcaa.org/sports/bsb/2023-24/div1/teams/midlandcollege 

Congratulations to the Chaparrals on a very successful 2024 season!

Go Chaps!