Camp Community College wins district title to reach World Series

Published 9:48 am Thursday, May 25, 2023

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Camp Community College’s baseball team swept through the NJCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic District Championship series on Friday, May 19, to punch its inaugural ticket to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III World Series.

The Hurricanes, who are in the midst of their first postseason appearance in program history, opened up their play in the Mid-Atlantic District Championship on Friday by defeating Region 20 champion Prince George’s Community College 11-3 at Repair Tech Field in Franklin.

Freshman right-handed pitcher Cooper Newell earned the win on the mound.

Camp scored its 11th run in the seventh inning, which triggered the NJCAA’s run rule that goes into effect when a team takes a 10-run lead after five innings or an eight-run lead after seven.

The run rule does not apply, however, to games that could decide a championship, so the Region 10 champion Hurricanes played the full nine innings of game two against Prince George on Friday afternoon, ultimately routing the Owls 25-10 to win the best-of-three series.

Sophomore right-handed pitcher Gavin Tomlin, a Southampton High School graduate, earned the win on the mound.

“Trent Holland hit for the cycle in game two, which was a really cool accomplishment,” Hurricanes Head Coach Daniel Rollins said, referencing the Camp freshman who came to the school from Isle of Wight Academy.

Hitting for the cycle refers to the achievement of a batter hitting a single, double, triple and home run all within the same game.

Camp opened its first-ever postseason run by defeating Surry Community College 31-7 on May 7 to win the NJCAA Region 10 Division III Championship.

The Hurricanes pushed their overall 2023 win-loss record to 33-17 in the course of claiming the Mid-Atlantic District title Friday.

“It was an incredible job by the guys, offensively, defensively, on the mound,” Rollins said of his players’ Friday performance. “I felt like we put together two very complete games, which now allows us to have an opportunity to go play in the World Series.”

The 2023 NJCAA Division III World Series runs from Saturday, May 27, through Wednesday, May 31, and will be held in Greeneville, Tennessee.

“It’ll be the best eight teams in the country,” Rollins said, adding that the World Series is a double-elimination tournament. “It’s basically two four-team pods, and then the winner of those two pods will play a best-of-three at the very end for the national championship.”

The No. 6-seeded Hurricanes head for Tennessee on Thursday morning, May 25, and will open play in the World Series on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. against No. 3 Niagara County Community College (42-5), the NJCAA Division III North District champs. There will be a live broadcast of the game online at www.NJCAA.org that people can pay to view.