by Austin Lockwood
Sports Editor
alockwo6@jccc.edu
While the men’s team is surely missing the absence of its past players, the results show a completely different story. After a four-game home series against Kirkwood Community College which the Cavaliers topped off with a 19-14 shootout win, the team is now the proud owner of an undefeated 12-0 record.
The team is currently 22nd in the Runs Batted In (RBI) category for Nation Junior College Athletic Association Division I and currently possesses four players with at least ten RBIs. Leading the pack is sophomore first baseman Brett Nickle, who blew up this season with 22 RBIs in the past month alone. The total gives Nickle the 16th-highest RBI total in NJCAA Div. I.
The numbers and high rate of scoring (the team is averaging just under 11 runs a game) can be attributed to the fact that out of the eight players with at least 30 at-bats, three are currently hitting almost half the time they go up to the plate with sophomore second baseman Brett Anderson hitting a flat .500 with 14 RBIs and one home run.
The team’s biggest win this month came against the Rockhurst University JV, whom the Cavs blew out 22-5 on Feb. 16 thanks largely in part to freshman catcher Brandt Ollinger’s six RBIs and a monstrous ten-run effort in the bottom of the fifth inning.
That game came after a trip to Millington, Tennessee, where the team opened the season at the Flag City Classic. They swept the three opponents they faced over the three-game weekend with teams coming in from Missouri, Connecticut and other parts of Tennessee.
The first true test of the season will come against Kansas City Kansas Community College (9-2) which will also be the first conference series of the season. The Cavs currently lead the conference in nonconference play and have a chance to start strong against good competition.
The four-game series will be split with two games at JCCC on Thursday, March 3 and the remaining two at KCKCC on Saturday, March 5. Both days will start at 2 p.m. with the second game of each day starting at around 4:30 p.m.
That series will be followed by a game against MCC-Longview and a much-anticipated series against Neosho County Community College (10-0) on March 8 and March 10.