Three wins are all that is needed for the Odessa College baseball team to qualify for the NJCAA World Series.
Now, they must navigate through the remainder of a cutthroat region in this week’s Region V Southwest District Championship.
The four-team, double-elimination tournament will begin Thursday with the Wranglers as the hosts, featuring Odessa College, McLennan Community College, Weatherford College and New Mexico Junior College.
Odessa College (40-15) will face McLennan Community College (42-16) in the first round at 2 p.m. Thursday at Wrangler Ballpark.
Weatherford College (46-11) will face New Mexico Junior College (39-18) in the opening game at 11 a.m. Thursday.
The tournament champion will clinch a spot in the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Colo.
There are no at-large bids for the NJCAA World Series in baseball.
The good news for the Wranglers is that they’ll be right back at home, having finished as the No. 1 seed in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference.
What could be an area of concern for the Wranglers is the lack of experience of playing deep into the postseason, compared to the other teams at this week’s tournament.
“The thing with all these teams is they’ve all been here,” Odessa College head coach David Wood said. “We have not. I think that that if there’s one edge that they have is they’re used to being in this position, whereas we haven’t been there in a little bit.”
Wood said the important thing is getting his players to understand that it’s still baseball, regardless of what round or tournament they’re playing in.
“It’s just getting these kids to understand that it’s still just baseball,” Wood said. “It doesn’t matter that it’s a regional or anything like that. If we keep playing our game and trusting what we do, it doesn’t matter who’s in the other dugout. We know we’re going to be ready to go.”
The Wranglers are coming off a 6-2 win in Game 3 against Cisco College this past Saturday to advance past the first round of the tournament.
“These guys have been great all year,” Wood said. “I didn’t know if, I when I took the job, that we would expect to be in this position but this is one of the toughest groups I’ve ever been a part of, and they’ve responded better than any group. To take that series from Cisco is a big step for us.”
McLennan has been in this position many times.
The national powerhouse program, which won a national title in 2021, has appeared in the NJCAA World Series three times in the past four years.
Last year, the Highlanders won the Region V Southwest Tournament on their home field, qualifying for nationals.
“McLennan is stacked,” Wood said. “They’ve been historically good for the last five to 10 years,” Wood said. “We know we have a tall task in front of us.”
The Wranglers themselves know what they’re capable of, having won the WJCAC title-which included a series win against New Mexico Junior College and surpassing all expectations this season.
“We’re one of the best teams, too, and I don’t want our guys to always think we’re an underdog,” Wood said. “I think we were an underdog early and nobody really had expectations. But now that you keep winning, you become one of those top echelon teams.”
After finishing fourth in the North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference, McLennan defeated Midland College in two games last week, defeating the Chaparrals 6-2 and 3-2 at Christensen Stadium.
McLennan is currently on a 10-game winning streak.
“Their pitching is really good,” Wood said. “They have some really good arms. The offense, they have two or three hitters in the middle of the lineup that can hurt you. We just have to make sure we’re making good pitches to them and, hopefully, nobody’s on base when they come up. We’re looking forward to a great matchup.”
The winner will advance to face either Weatherford College or New Mexico Junior College at 2 p.m. Friday while the loser will play at 11 a.m. in an elimination game.
McLennan is the only team in the field that Odessa College hasn’t yet faced this season.
The Wranglers have faced Weatherford College twice this season, losing 2-0 on April 23 and 7-6 on March 24.
“We faced some of their better hitters,” Wood said. “We haven’t faced all their best arms. But, again, we’ve seen their number one and their number two. We know we can play with them.”
Like McLennan, Weatherford College has also recently been in the NJCAA World Series, winning the region title back in 2023.
The players know that there’s still work to be done.
“We’re really happy, but job’s not finished,” Odessa College infielder Robert De La Garza said. “We still got work to do. Practicing right here is going to be the toughest three days we got. We’ve been working hard and getting ready for regionals.”
He and his teammates are excited to be back at home for this week’s tournament.
“… We’re really blessed to be in this position,” De La Garza said. “Hopefully, we can put in a good performance for our crowd.”
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