Local Sports Journal
The Muskegon Community College Jayhawks clinched a championship trophy Thursday, and they did it in style.
The Jayhawks swept a doubleheader from Kellogg Community College, 9-0 and 3-0, to nail down the first outright Michigan Community College Athletic Association baseball championship in the history of the program.
It was also the first outright title for Coach Cap Pohlman, who has guided the Jayhawks for 16 seasons. One of Pohlman’s previous teams tied for the league championship.
MCC finished the regular season with a 21-5 league record and a 35-16 overall mark.
“Obviously I’m very proud of these young men,” Pohlman said. “They worked extremely hard and really overachieved. Fortunately we had a couple young pitchers do very well this year, which helped a lot. This entire group has come a long way. They learned how to win close games. That’s important.
“We played exceptional today. Kellogg is one of the better teams we play, but our pitching was very good, our defense was good and we had some timely hitting.”
In Game 1, the Jayhawks scored four runs in the first inning and never looked back. Pitcher Kyle Lawson threw the shutout, scattering 5 hits. Kory Brown and Adrian Anderson each had 2 hits to lead the Jayhawks.
In Game 2, Damon Proctor pitched a one-hit shutout for the Jayhawks. MCC scratched out the victory with only four hits. Leading the way were Patrick Giddings, who had a triple, and Stephon Chandonnet, who contributed a double.
The Jayhawks will now move on to the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 12 tournament next week in Battle Creek. Their first game will be Wednesday at 4 p.m. against an opponent to be determined.
As conference champion, MCC will enter the tournament as the top seed. The winner of the tournament will qualify for the NJCAA Division 2 national tournament.
