After losing two out of three games at the Region 23 tournament, East Central’s status in the NJCAA Division II World Series was certainly up for grabs.
But the Warriors, who have been ranked No. 1 in the country twice this season, got the call they were looking for on Tuesday.
The Warriors were announced as the No. 3 overall seed in the upcoming World Series, which will begin on Saturday in Enid, Oklahoma.
The Warriors enter the World Series with a 51-7 record after opening the regular season with 27 straight wins and vaulting to the No. 1 standing.
Veteran head coach Neal Holliman said the Warriors’ “body of work,” stood for itself. But after losing to Jones 6-4 and being eliminated from the Region 23 Tournament, the Warriors’ future was in question.
“Any time you leave it in somebody else’s hands, that’s not what you want to do,” Holliman. “It’s kind of like being in a 1-2 count and you take a pitch that is borderline. You better swing and we didn’t play our best baseball and there are some good teams there too. It’s not just us not doing what we were capable of, some other teams did some positive things as well. We have seven losses on the year by a total of 11 runs.”
A room full of supporters crowded Newton Hall on the East Central campus on Tuesday to watch a live stream of the announcement of the 12-team field on the NJCAA web site. The group watched the first nine teams announced before East Central flashed on the screen as the No. 3 seed.
“First, I’m just very appreciative to all the people who have poured and invested in our guys,” Holliman said. “And proud of the effort that they have put forth. I’m appreciative of the committee that they recognized the body of work that we put out this year. We have been preparing for it and will continue to prepare for it. We will go forward and put our best foot forward. I think the major difference was we went to their place and beat them twice.”
East Central returns to Enid for the second straight season after setting a school record for wins this season.
