Maybe it was the impressive start in Arizona. Maybe it was the four-week run at #1. Maybe it's the head coach who surpassed 1,000 career wins. Maybe it's already tying the second-highest win total in program history. Maybe it's the number of experienced second and third year players leading the way. Maybe it's the influx of first year talent. Maybe it's receiving the #2 seed. Maybe it's just Madison College baseball. Whatever the reason may be for you, this year just feels a bit different as the WolfPack prepare to make their fourth consecutive and 11th overall appearance at the NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series. Coach Mike Davenport and his second-seeded Madison College WolfPack will play Sunday, May 29 at 7:15 p.m. at David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Oklahoma, against the winner of Saturday's first round game between seventh-seeded Murray State College (OK) and tenth-seeded Mercer County Community College (NJ). 

2022 Tournament Bracket (PDF) | 2022 Tournament Results Page

The veteran players, and there are many, have been through this before. Eighteen players on the current roster were also on the 2021 team that placed fifth in Oklahoma. That group also features eight players who are in their somewhat-rare third season with the WolfPack as a result of additional eligibility granted during the COVID-19 Pandemic. That level of experience and leadership lends itself to composure and understanding when times may get tough, like working their way back from the loser's bracket and eventually overcoming a two-run deficit to win the Region 4 championship.

One of those third-year players is pitcher Jett Thielke, who is 8-2 on the season with a 2.88 earned run average. The right-hander leads a pitching core that ranks first in the nation in team ERA at 3.19. That group also includes Eli Hoyt (6-1/1.19), Riley LeTourneau (1-0/1.64), Carson Fluno (4-1/1.78), Luke Hansel (3-1/2.23), Jacob Wilde (5-1/3.33), and Alex Hayes (4-1/4.28) that are all capable of starting a game in Oklahoma. Hansel leads the team with three saves, while seven others have all earned one during the season. The WolfPack is also ninth nationally in total runs allowed at 176 (3.3 runs per game) and 12th in earned runs allowed at 134.

Outfielder Eli Kramer and infielder Jake Nelson, two of the third year players, boast the team's top batting average at .405, and both were extremely productive at the plate over five games in the Region 4 Tournament, with Kramer earning Tournament MVP honors. Six other players are batting .300 or better, and there are four batters with at least 60 base hits. And while no individual player ranks among the top 20 in any offensive category, Madison College as a team is 12th in the country with a team .338 batting average, 17th with 533 total hits and 263 total walks, and 24th in runs scored with 422 (7.8 runs per game).

Madison College has never faced five of the other nine teams in the 2022 field, including either of its potential opening game opponents. Two of the teams in the tournament could be repeat matchups from 2021. The WolfPack pulled away late against Frederick Community College (MD) for a 6-2, advancing to play Phoenix College (AZ) and claiming a wild 9-8 win on a Brady Jurgella walk-off. The victory over Frederick is the only prior matchup with the fourth-seeded Cougars, while the Pack is 4-1 all-time against the ninth-seeded Bears, a foe they have played on occasion during their annual spring trip to the desert. 

Four years ago, Madison College and Kirkwood Community College (IA) squared off in one of the craziest games ever played in Enid, with the Eagles racing out to a 9-1 lead, only to see the WolfPack score 17 unanswered runs in the tournament opener for an 18-9 victory in eight innings. The two Midwest programs have met seven times prior, with the Pack owning a 5-2 record over sixth-seeded Kirkwood. Right behind Madison College in the seeding is another Midwest team, Heartland Community College (IL). The two are split 2-2 in head-to-head meetings, including a split doubleheader in Bloomington, Illinois, right before the 2020 season was canceled due to the pandemic. The other two games came in 2012, with one being a 13-4 win in the second round of the World Series in Enid.

The WolfPack have become a staple in Enid, Oklahoma, however, they have yet to move past the national semifinals. In the 16th all-time appearance at a national tournament in school history, it has been 25 years since Madison College completed a run a three-consecutive NJCAA Division III championships. Maybe...the drought ends this year.

Official NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series Website

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