GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — The Cochise College baseball team, NJCAA Western District champion, opens play in the 2013 JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., this weekend against Central District champion Neosho County Community College from Kansas.
Cochise is 49-17 overall this season, while Neosho is 35-25. Sunday’s game between the Apaches and Panthers begins at 7:30 p.m. MST (6:30 p.m. AZ time). It’s the final game to be played in the first round of the double-elimination tournament. The winner moves on to play Tuesday night, and the loser plays Tuesday morning.
All of Cochise’s games in the World Series will be broadcast on KDAP 96.5 FM in Douglas and streamed live online via NJCAA TV. Cochise College’s public information officer will also offer a live blog, capturing the team’s experiences on and off the field, at apachesatjuco2013.tumblr.com.
The Apaches come into their first World Series appearance since 1989 sitting at No. 6 in the latest NJCAA Division I national poll. After winning Region I for, also, the first time since 1989, Cochise cruised through its first two games of the district tournament before falling to Western Nevada in the title game. But without a loss in the double-elimination tournament, Cochise had another shot at the Wildcats last Saturday afternoon and defeated Western Nevada for the district title in a rain-delayed game that wrapped up Sunday, giving Cochise the final spot in the World Series bracket.
Neosho, unranked but receiving votes in the most recent national poll, was in similar circumstances in the Central District Championship. The Panthers won the first three games, then fell in the title game to Coffeyville Community College to send the tournament to the “if necessary” game, where Neosho defeated Coffeyville, Kan., 7-3 last Tuesday to claim its second straight Central District title.
The Apaches’ only two appearances in the JUCO World Series were back-to-back in 1988 and 1989. Those were the last two years that Bo Hall, now Cochise College’s athletic director, was head coach of the Cochise baseball team.