Baseball: Joliet Junior College bound for Division III World Series

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Shortstop Tim Meyer and his Joliet Junior College teammates will play in the NJCAA Division III World Series beginning Saturday at Tyler, Texas. | SUBMITTED PHOTO

Updated: September 29, 2011 12:39AM

When the Joliet Junior College baseball team takes the field Saturday in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III World Series at Tyler, Texas, the Wolves figure to be loose.

They may not be the most talented team in the field, but after what they showed in winning the Region IV Division III Tournament last weekend, you never know what they may accomplish.

JJC faced Waubonsee on Saturday, both having won their first two games in the double-elimination tournament. Waubonsee took an 11-5 lead into the eighth inning but could not hold on as the Wolves scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth and three in the ninth to win 12-11.

After Waubonsee eliminated Milwaukee Area, the Chiefs knew they needed to beat JJC twice to advance to Texas. They got off and running Sunday with a five-run first inning.

But JJC came back — eventually, in fact, blowing leads of 8-5 after six innings and 10-8 after eight. The game went 11 innings, the Wolves winning 11-10 with a run in the bottom of the 11th.

As he watched the wild celebration on the field, moments before his obligatory dousing, veteran coach Wayne King said, “I thought we had a shot at getting to the World Series with this team. But when the season started there were some question marks. We knew we had some talent, but we weren’t a great team. We had some holes.

“But overall, I like what we can do. We definitely swing the bats. We do enough things that we can be a threat to people.”

JJC (39-21) will open its World Series bid at noon Saturday against Westmoreland County (Pa.).

King has taken nine previous JJC teams to the World Series since 1994. The Wolves won the national title in ’94 and 2008, were second in ’95 and 2007, third in ’97 and ’06, fourth in ’09, fifth in ’04 and eighth in ’00. So King knows a little something about what it takes to succeed on the national stage.

“One thing is for sure,” he said as the celebration continued, “these guys really like each other. Just look at them.”

“This is unbelievable,” said sophomore shortstop Tim Meyer (Plainfield Central), a .312 hitter. “Two games in a row to be five runs down and win both ... It’s a team game, and if we play like this as a team, we can’t be stopped.

“When we have comebacks like this, that’s when we are at our best. We have only two guys who were on the team two years ago that went to the World Series. So I’m sure there will be some pressure, but I think we’ll be loose. We know what we can do.”

Freshman first baseman Tom Keating, a St. Laurence graduate, was the Region IV Tournament MVP. All he did was go 11-for-16 with 11 RBI. He leads the Wolves in batting average (.431), runs (59), doubles (21), triples (8), home runs (5), RBI (57), slugging percentage (.707) and on-base percentage (.491).

“It’s been good the past couple of weeks,” Keating said of his hitting. “This is exactly why I came here, to play in a good program and get to Texas.”

Sophomore outfielder Taylor Olson (Coal City) also came up big in the Region IV Tournament and is hitting .364. He has a positive feeling heading to Texas.

“We have a lot of fight in us,” Olson said. “We have the heart. When we play together, we can play as well as any team in the nation.

“At the beginning of the season we were winning. Then we hit a our rough patch, but after that, we came together and really started hitting the ball.”

The Wolves boast a .323 team batting average and are scoring a shade over seven runs per game. “The comeback (Saturday) was unbelievable,” sophomore third baseman and leadoff man Jay Modelski (Providence) said. “It showed the heart this group has. It’s not the most talented group, but it is the hardest working.

“We have to go down there (to Texas) and have fun. We have the pitching to do it, and the bats came alive in this tournament. Hopefully, we can bring home what I came here for.”

Modelski is hitting .283, outfielder Bryan Davis (Providence) is at .306, outfielder Rick Gazarek (Plainfield Central) is hitting .316 and second baseman Chris Welch (Plainfield North) is at .280. Outfielder/designated hitter Dan Eliopulos is a .395 hitter and catcher Ryan McMahon, the cleanup man behind Keating, is at .358 with 40 RBI.

The JJC pitching staff features closer Justin Troyner from Minooka (7-3, 2.72 ERA), who leads in victories and has seven of the staff’s eight saves. Starters include Josh Kwasny from Lincoln-Way East (5-2, 5.46), Brett Evak from Plainfield North (4-4, 5.58), Edgar Silva from Joliet Central (3-3, 3.86), Matt Fine from Romeoville (5-4, 8.16) and Dennis Beauregard (2-3, 5.77).

Chris Skiniotes from Lincoln-Way Central (2-0, 3.07), Ethan Johnson from Plainfield North (1-1, 6.02) and Alex Parks from Plainfield Central (0-0, 9.97) all could see relief work in the World Series.

How will it all play out in Texas? As King said, “Anything can happen in baseball.”