Jayhawks Solved The Puzzle

Things finally went right for the Jamestown Community College baseball team and that’s why the Jayhawks will be making their first appearance at the NJCAA Division III World Series next weekend.In Coach Kerry Kellogg’s previous nine seasons, there have been numerous disappointments at the regional level. The biggest was a couple of years ago when he was sure his team was in the Region 3 Division III tournament field and the only question was if the Jayhawks would play at home in the first round. However, when the seedings were announced, JCC wasn’t even included.

Last season JCC finally got a first-round home game and won to advance to the regional tournament, but was eliminated in a 10-inning loss to Erie CC.

So it was satisfying when the Jayhawks, seeded sixth, went on the road for a first-round game at Hudson Valley CC and won in 10 innings. Then in the opening game of the tournament last Friday, JCC won in 10 innings again – against Erie. Then came two more wins over Columbia-Greene CC and the Jayhawks had their first regional title and first berth in the national tournament.

The other three teams in the tournament’ final four were all nationally recognized in the NJCAA Division III. Columbia-Greene was ranked seventh in the final poll while Erie and Mohawk Valley were listed under honorable mention. And the team JCC knocked off first, Hudson Valley, was ranked third.

“Obviously we were the underdogs,” Kellogg said. “It woke up a lot of people in the region.”

And maybe now the nation.

“I know they didn’t take us as top three or viewed us as strong as we should have been viewed,” Kellogg said. “The reason being we didn’t have the numbers in the won-loss column like everybody else did. All three schools were going in with over 40 games.”

Columbia-Greene was 36-9, Erie was 34-9 and Mohawk Valley was 22-13 while JCC was 18-9.

“Our won-loss record didn’t compare to the other three teams,” said Kellogg, pointing out numerous non-regional games were canceled because of inclement weather. “But when you compare our won-loss record for the last three weeks, we were as good as, if not better than the other three schools that represented the region.”

When I interviewed Kellogg in March for a preview article about the team, I left his office feeling this team could be his best ever. And for good reason.

“I made some statements that put me on the line by saying we had the best outfield in the region,” Kellogg recalled. “We had one of the best catchers and we had a pitching staff that was as good as any of them. So that put our program on the line and if anyone else in the region had that article they may have thought maybe we should take Jamestown a little more seriously.”

But no one was taking the Jayhawks too seriously when they got off to a 3-4 start and then managed to climb a couple of games above .500. Kellogg recalled thinking, “This doesn’t represent our team.”

But there was a reason. JCC had suffered a series of nagging injuries with the biggest to outfielder Andy Greenman, infielder Zach Kane and pitcher-outfieldeer Jared Porpiglia. But when everyone got healthy, things turned around.

JCC’s luck also turned around as things began going the Jayhawks’ way. It started with a home doubleheader against Niagara County CC that appeared washed out. The umpires thought so because they had changed clothes and were ready to go home. Then Diethrick Park groundskeeper arrived.

“Jamie Bloomquist drives up in his cart with a couple dozen bags of Diamond Dry and I’m thinking something’s going on here,” Kellogg recalled. “Jamie took the effort to break away from his dinner, look out the window and say, “Holy cow, they’re in trouble’ and he came down to the stadium.”

Bloomquist got the field ready, the games were played and JCC won both.

“That was the first part of the puzzle,” Kellogg said. “The second part of the puzzle is when we go out to Corning knowing we have to win two, but they couldn’t find umpires for the games because they changed them at the last minute.”

JCC was battling Corning for one of the final three postseason berths and if the games weren’t played, the Jayhawks might have been left out. But fortunately one local umpire was found to work both games on a very hot day and JCC swept the twin bill.

“Then the third part of the puzzle was at Mohawk Valley on Tuesday in the first round where they tie it up in the bottom of the ninth on a home run,” Kellogg said. “And then we bounce back in the top of the 10th with three runs and now I’m thinking, ‘Now something is going our way.’”

What was going the Jayhawks’ way was that the Mohawk Valley rightfielder lost two balls in the sun.

“The fourth piece of the puzzle was the 10th inning with Erie,” he said about the victory in the opening game of the regional tournament last Friday. “Last year it went their way, this year it went our way.”

And it was a big victory.

“After our first win I knew that Hudson Valley and Erie were both in the loser’s bracket before we played our second game on Saturday,” Kellogg said. “I knew that of the No. 1 and No. 2 teams, one of them were going to be on their way home.”

And Sunday night JCC wsas on its way home with the regional title after three straight wins. And the key to it all was pitching.

“We gave up only six runs in three games against three very good programs.”

Now it’s on to the national tournament that starts next Saturday at nearby Batavia. Some lamented to Kellogg that his team doesn’t get to make a trip to some place such as Maryland or Texas for the nationals, but the coach prefers playing less than two hours from home.

“Our last eight games were on the road and I want something nearby,” Kellogg said. “Not only don’t we have to go very far, but now we can have as many people as we want to be there. We can have a huge backing that can follow us and that will be a big advantage for us.”

Maybe that will be the fifth part of the puzzle.