ENID, OKLA. - In a winner-take-all Game 3 Saturday at
David Allen Memorial Ballpark, top-ranked Pearl River Community College rallied for a 7-2 victory over second-seeded Madison College, denying the WolfPack their first
NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series Championship. In pursuit of the program's fourth baseball national championship, the Pack won the best-of-three series opener 11-4, but dropped Game 2 by a 19-1 final to set up the decisive final. Infielders
Zach Storbakken and
Jake Nelson, as well as outfielder
Brady Jurgella, were all named to the
NJCAA Division II All-Tournament Team.
For the first time in the series, the visiting team did not score in the top of the first, as Madison College's
Jacob Wilde worked a 1-2-3 inning. The WolfPack took advantage and jumped out to a 2-0 lead with one big swing. After Gunnar Doye drew a two-out walk,
Zach Storbakken sent the sixth pitch of his at-bat over the left field wall for his third home run of the tournament. It's also the ninth long ball of the season and 17th of his career, moving him into a tie for fourth on the school's all-time list.
The lead held up into the sixth inning, when the Wildcats all-time home run leader clubbed a two-out solo homer. Two singles and a hit batter later, PRCC had the bases loaded and came through with a two-run single that ended Wilde's day.
Pearl River Community College (44-11) added two more runs in the seventh on two hits, a walk, and an error. They added single runs in the eighth and ninth innings to secure the first baseball national title in school history.
Madison College's best opportunity to add to their run total came in the seventh with consecutive two-out singles, however,
Eduardo Saucedo popped out to third to end the inning. The Pack went down in order in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.
The Wildcats amassed a 10-6 edge in total hits, and also took advantage of four WolfPack errors. First year players
Gabe Roessler and
Carter Stebane each registered two hits, with Storbakken and O'Brien each tallying one hit.
Storbakken, a native of Sussex, Wisconsin, had two RBI and a run scored. He finished the tournament with a .333 batting average, eight hits, eight runs batted in, and five runs scored.
Jurgella, a Menasha, Wisconsin, product, racked up six hits, five runs scored, and five RBI. Nelson, who hails from Altoona, Wisconsin, had a team-best .346 tournament batting average with nine hits, five runs scored, and three driven in.
On the mound, Wilde (5-2) lasted 5.2 innings and surrendered three runs on six hits and a walk. He had one strikeout before giving way to
Jett Thielke for one-third of an inning.
Adrian Montilva entered for two innings, and was credited with three earned runs and three hits allowed. He struck out two and walked one.
Alex Hayes recorded two K's in the ninth, and also served up a solo home run.
The team's 49-11 record stands as the second-most wins in a single season in school history, trailing only the 50-win squad from 2001. It's the most wins by a WolfPack team coached by
Mike Davenport, who now boasts 11 seasons with 40 or more victories. Davenport has led Madison College to 11 NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series appearances, with the 2022 team becoming the first to reach the championship series.
The runner-up finish is the first for the WolfPack baseball program, which also claims three national championships, four third places, two fourths, two fifths, and three eighths.
2022 NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series Photo Gallery
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