St. Cloud, MN - After earning the #1 seed and rolling through the Region XIIIA tournament the RCTC Yellowjackets were on the verge of making their way to the NJCAA College World Series this weekend. RCTC needed three wins in the District tournament to secure their place in the National Tournament.
In game one the Jackets took on the #2 seed out of the North, the Warriors of Ridgewater. RCTC got a 7 inning complete game out of All-MCAC pitcher Drew Simmons to win 10-2. Simmons allowed 10 hits, but only 2 earned runs, while triking out 5 for the win. RCTC took advantage of a big 2nd inning to secure the win. RCTC got RBI singles from Yanseph Llanos, Carlos Martinez, Jovan Marrero, Gustavo Gonzalez, Blake Schilling,and Gabe Sepulveda in the 7 run 2nd inning. Gonzalez and Schilling each picked up RBI doubles in the fourth to extend the Jacket lead. For the game Schilling was 4-4, and Gonzalez was 3-4, whil Sepulveda and Marrero, each picked up a pair of hits.
The win, set-up a winners bracket title game between the Jackets and the host Cyclcones of St. Cloud. Just a week prior the two teams met with RCTC's Simmons, throwing a complete game, 9-inning shutout. The district game was a bit different as the Cyclones got out early scoring 8 runs (5 in the 2nd and 3 in the 3rd) early to win the game 12-4. Klayton Hawkins homered for the Jackets, while Will Pacheco had a 2 RBI double. Schilling picked up the Jackets other RBI with a single in the second.
With the loss the Jackets once again had to play Ridgewater to fight their way back to the title game. This time it was a 14-6 win for RCTC. The Jackets had 19 hits in the game including homweruns for Will Pacheco and Gabe Sepulveda. Zebastian Bolduc picked up 4 hits in 6 at bats, while Seulveda, Blake Schilling, and Klayton Hawkins each had three hits. Gustavo Gonzalez picked up 4 RBI, while Sepulveda and Yanseph Llanos each had 3.
Alec Dietl went 7 1/3 innings for the win.
The victory of the Warriors set up a championship Saturday, in which the Jackets would need to beat St. Cloud twice to advance to the World Series. In what turned out to be an epic game the Jackets fell 14-11 to end their season. St. Cloud scored 1 in the first and 2 in the second to take a 3-0 lead, only to have RCTC score 3 in their half of the second inning on a three run homerun by Klayton Hawkins. The scoring was far from over as St. Cloud put up single runs in both the third and fourth innings, before putting up 4 in the 6th and 3 in the 7th to take a 12-3 lead into the bottom of the 7th. From their it started to get interesting as the Jackets scored twice in the 7th on a two-run homerun by Gabe Sepulveda. The Cyclones answered with 2 more in the eighth, before the Jackets scored 6 in the bottom of the inning. Izaak Stevens, Zebastain Bolduc, and Gustavo Gonzalez each had RBI doubles in the inning, while Hawkins added an RBI single. With the score 14-11 heading into the 9th the Jackets kept the Cyclones off the board. In the RCTC half of the inning, the Jackets loaded the bases with one out, but a game ending double-play put an end to the Jacket comeback.
Hawkins ended 2-4 with 4 RBI, while Sepulveda was 2-5 with 3 RBI. Izaak Stevens oicked up a pair of RBI, while Gonzalez went 2-5 with an RBIand 2 runs scored.
The Jackets ended their season as the MCAC Southern Division Champions and were 31-15 overall with a 14-2 divisional record.
