San Jac ends successful season with disappointing loss to number-one ranked Thunderbirds

The San Jacinto College Gators’ JUCO World Series hopes were dashed in a 10-9 loss to number-one ranked New Mexico Junior College on May 31 in one of the final games of the 2007 tournament at Grand Junction, Colorado.

Although the Gators fell a little short of their ultimate goal of a national championship, the 2007 campaign should still be viewed as successful. San Jac qualified as one of the Final Four in the JUCO World Series, an accomplishment achieved by only a handful of community college baseball teams in the nation. Indeed, a fan of one of the Final Four teams, the Chipola College Indians (Marianna, Florida), remarked: “Chipola has been trying hard for years just to make it to the JUCO World Series. This year we finally made it for the first time and it’s hard just to even get this far.” Chipola is the team that handed the Gators their first loss of this year’s JUCO World Series on May 30 in a hard-fought 7-6 contest. Chipola went on to win the World Series title.

In San Jac’s final game last Thursday night, the Gators gave New Mexico everything the number-one ranked Thunderbirds could handle. San Jac’s starting pitcher Matt Coburn held the potent Thunderbird offense to 1 run through five innings, while San Jac hitters were teeing off on New Mexico ace pitcher Trevor Harden (10-1 in the regular season), scoring 7 runs in the first four innings.

San Jac Head Coach Tom Arrington pulled out all the stops during the do-or-die contest, using five pitchers (including ace starter Hank Williamson in a relief role), pinch runner Tyler Dyer and ace pinch hitter Quentin Luquette in an effort to stave off elimination. And the San Jac players truly left if all on the field in a battle that turned into a back-and-forth slugfest between two of the nation’s most highly regarded organizations.

To be sure, New Mexico deserves recognition for pulling off a dramatic come-from-behind win, but the Thunderbirds also benefited by pure luck and some unusual weather conditions. Instead of being arid as it usually is in the high plains of Western Colorado, it was somewhat humid during the game. Consequently, a long fly ball crushed by San Jac slugger Jeremy Barfield in the eighth inning to deep center field was caught at the fence by the Thunderbird center fielder. Had that ball gone out, as it would have under normal conditions, the Gators would have tied the game and regained the momentum. And New Mexico would not have pulled ahead of the Gators had it not been for a fluke error in the seventh inning when a routine ground ball somehow bounced off the heel of San Jac shortstop Tanner Hines’ glove.

Regardless of the disappointing late elimination from the JUCO World Series, San Jac can reflect on an otherwise successful season. The Gators overpowered opponents in the recent Region XIV tournament to earn a berth in the World Series. Not only were the Gators undefeated in regional play, they outscored opposing teams 50-14. San Jac’s overall regular season record was 44-14 and the Gators made their fifth appearance in the last six years at the NJCAA World Series.

The Gators have now won the Region XIV title 19 times (more than any other community college) and qualified to play in 11 national championship games. They have been NJCAA World Series champions five times, a national record.

Additionally, five Gator players were recently named to the Region XIV South Zone All-Conference team and the Gators' Head Coach Tom Arrington was selected as the Region XIV South Zone Coach of the Year.