After a solid start to its season Lenoir Community College had a final three-week stretch to forget.
Heading into the tournament the Lancers’ coach wants them to forget it all.
LCC (30-18) lost nine of its last 12 games and opens the eight-team NJCAA Division II Region X tournament today as a 6-seed against No. 3 Pasco-Hernando (Fla.) at 10 a.m. at Morehead City’s O’Neal Field at Big Rock Stadium.
With the pairings set and final exams come and gone, ninth-year head coach Stony Wine wants his team to put its recent failures and its early-season successes in the past.
That’s because what happens over the next five days is all that matters.
“We’ve moved on,” Wine said. “We’ve had a break away from baseball for a few days because of exams, and the guys look like they have an extra hitch in their step. I think they’re ready to play in this tournament.”
The winner of the event — which also includes top-seeded Catawba Valley C.C., Brunswick C.C., Southeastern C.C., Patrick Henry C.C., Rockingham C.C. and Surry C.C. — represents the region in the NJCAA Division II Junior College World Series in Enid, Okla., May 25-June 1.
Good thing for LCC, it has history on its side. A team seeded sixth has advanced to the world series before — Southeastern C.C. in 2011.
“So it can be done,” Wine said.
When LCC left Big Rock Stadium on Thursday — the team traveled east to take a round of batting practice before the event officially begins — Wine felt his team was there both mentally and physically.
The team dropped its last three Region X series to teams who, at the time, were all below it in the standings. Two of the teams — Wake Tech and College of the Albemarle — didn’t even qualify for the tournament.
A deep arsenal of arms and a solid offense were to blame for a 27-9 record and third in the standings through the first two-plus months of the year. But then all of the sudden the bats stopped swinging and those arms became less dominant.
The Lancers did end the regular season on somewhat of a positive note by holding off College of the Albemarle, 4-3, on Sunday to stave off a series sweep by the host school.
LCC hadn’t touched a baseball since — in an organized workout by Wine, at least — until Thursday’s workout.
That was enough time for the players to forget about baseball while they prepared for their academic exams.
Now they can focus on the tournament.
“They found a distraction from baseball — their exams — and they’re what are most important,” Wine said.
“Now we’ll see if we can put together a run over the next week or so, because this part of the year is what’s important.”
Notes: LCC’s Stephen Butt (first team), Sam Remick (second team) and Chastin Radford (second team) were named to the all-region team for Region X. Remick and Robbie Hiser were named to the all-defense team. … Catawba Valley C.C., currently ranked 10th nationally, won the tournament last year. LCC finished third. … Pasco-Hernando College is the only D-II team in Region VIII, and as long as it finishes the year above .500 it qualifies for the Region X tournament. … Aside from Pasco-Hernando, the only tournament team LCC didn’t face this season was CVCC. Their series was rained out.
Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.
NJCAA Region X Division II tournament
O’Neal Field at Big Rock Stadium, Morehead City
Today
Game 1: (6) Lenoir C.C. vs. (3) Pasco-Hernando C.C. (Fla.), 10 a.m.
Game 2: (7) Rockingham C.C. vs. (2) Brunswick C.C., 1 p.m.
Game 3: (5) Patrick Henry C.C. vs. (4) Southeastern C.C., 4 p.m.
Game 4: (8) Surry C.C. vs. (1) Catawba Valley C.C., 7 p.m.
Saturday
Game 5: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 10 a.m.
Game 6: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, 1 p.m.
Game 7: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 4 p.m.
Game 8: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 7 p.m.
Sunday
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 8 loser, 10 a.m.
Game 10: Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 loser, 1 p.m.
Game 11: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 4 p.m.
Game 12: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 7 p.m.
Monday
Game 13: Game 12 winner vs. Game 11 loser, 3 p.m.
Game 14: Game 11 winner vs. Game 13 winner, 7 p.m.
Tuesday
Game 15: Game 14 loser vs. Game 14 winner, 1 p.m. (if necessary)