Enid, Oklahoma, and the NJCAA Division II World Series might have seemed like a long shot when the Lackawanna College baseball team fell behind SUNY Rockland, 14-0, after 1½ innings in its East District playoff opener last weekend.
But head coach Mike McCarry felt otherwise.
“We got in the dugout, I flipped the lineup card over and wrote down the number 14. Then I drew an arrow and said, ‘We have 24 outs left.’ As long as the number 14 or however many runs we have to score is less than the amount of outs we have left, I’m going to bet on us to get out of this,” McGarry said. “That’s kind of been the mentality all year long. Try to stay ahead of the numbers, put ourselves in a good position and find a way to get on that bus to Oklahoma.”
That’s exactly what the Falcons did. They rallied for a 23-17 victory, then won their next two games to earn a trip to the World Series.
After spending two days on a bus traveling 1,408 miles — with a layover stop in St. Louis — Lackawanna (34-16) arrived in Oklahoma on Wednesday and opens play in the double-elimination tournament against Madison College (43-9) from Wisconsin on Saturday at 5 p.m. EDT at David Allen Memorial Ballpark.
Of the 12 teams at the World Series, Lackawanna is seeded No. 12. and the only team not ranked in the final NJCAA Division II Top 25 poll.
McGarry said it is not a sign of disrespect. It simply is people not aware of what Lackawanna is all about.
“We play in a mountainous valley three hours from anybody paying attention,” McGarry said. “It’s the lay of the land and we have to go play and show them what they’ve kind of been ignoring all year.”
This is Lackawanna’s sixth World Series appearance and fourth since McGarry became coach in 2019. He feels this is the Falcons’ best chance to make some noise at the tournament.
“The focus has changed dramatically,” McGarry said. “In 2019, we were pretty happy to be here. In 2021, we were happy to have a season post-pandemic. In 2023, I had some shiny toys and I wanted to show them off, but I don’t know in the back of my head that I felt we could go on a run and win this whole thing. This year, I feel like if the cards stack the right way, we can be in a really good position to show the country what we can do.”
Offensively, Lackawanna ranks fifth in NJCAA Division III in batting average at .358. It is second in doubles with 144 and third in slugging percentage at .571.
Sophomore John Hughes leads the team with a .444 average (63 for 142) with 19 doubles, one triple,10 home runs and 54 RBIs. Sophomore Jake Kelleher, a Wyoming Area grad, is hitting .434 (66 for 152) with 16 doubles, seven home runs and 37 RBIs. Deacon Brown from Williamsport, who McGarry believes is the best freshman in the country, is batting .429 (72 for 168) with 17 doubles, three triples, 12 home runs and 57 RBIs. Sophomore Brooks Henderson IV is hitting .409 (76 for 108) with 20 doubles, two triples, seven home runs and 60 RBIs. Nanticoke Area grad Nick Matson chips in 44 RBIs while batting .338 (54 for 160) and is 16 for 16 in stolen bases.
“The whole roster tends to be really talented players who needed a home to show what they can do on the field,” McGarry said.
On the mound, sophomore righthander Trey Sajeski is 8-1 with a 5.21 earned-run average and 62 strikeouts in 57 innings. Fellow sophomore righty Liam O’Leary is 7-4 with a 3.99 ERA and 115 strikeouts in 76.2 innings. McGarry said Sajeski will pitch Lackawanna’s opening game and O’Leary will get the ball in the second game.
Madison, the No. 5 seed, is making its 14th appearance at the World Series and record seventh straight, breaking the mark of six it set from 2010-15. The Wolfpack were runnersup in 2022 and finished third in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
Shortstop Jalen Gellings leads Madison with a .363 batting average (53 for 146). Outfielder Marcelino Edison Alonso is batting .345 (59 for 171) with eight home runs and 45 RBIs. Outfielder Nate Novinska is hitting .324 (47 for 145) with eight home runs and 46 RBIs. Lefthander Noah Marschke is 7-1 with a 2.32 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 62 innings.
“They’re a very, very good team that’s very well-coached,” McCarry said. “I don’t know that they play multiple styles of baseball, though. I don’t know how many games they’ve spent coming back from behind. That’s the focus of what we need to do. We need to put them on their heels, kind of get running downhill a little bit and see how they react.”
If Lackawanna wins Saturday, it advances to face No. 4 Heartland Community College (46-14) on Sunday at 8 p.m. EDT. If they Falcons lose, they play Monday at 8 p.m. EDT against the loser of the game between No. 1 Pasco-Hernando State College (48-10) and either No. 8 Frederick Community College (51-11) or No. 9 Iowa Central Community College (44-15).
The championship round of the World Series is May 31-June 1.
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