New JUCO Rankings released

[44Magnum]

Just wanted to give all the readers a little info on our regional junior colleges. The new rankings were released this week. Young Harris ranks #2 nationally and Surry CC ranks 8th. Surry is 28-0 right now and YH is 25-4. They are the only two Division I juco teams in NC, SC and GA ranked in the top 25. Congratulations to both programs on impressive starts thus far.

[playme]

Surry has an impressive program...congrats

[bbfan123@hotmail.com]

Surry split with Louisburg this weekend. Great games from what I hear. Surry should have won three of four, but made an error in the 7th inning of the first game that cost them the win. Surry has a great program, and their coaching staff really cares about their players unlike a lot of schools. If you are serious about baseball, I would check them out. They are definately the best junior college program in the Carolinas.

[The "O"]

the "next level" forum perhaps? :applause: :applause:

[JM15]

Lenoir CC (Div. 2) is 17-5. LCC dropped to Div. 2 along with Southeastern this season because of student enrollment. LCC has had "impressive" wins over Louisburg, Briarcliffe (previously Top 20 D1 JUCO), and Potomac State (previously Top 20 D1 JUCO). LCC swept Blue Ridge on the road. Losses have come to Pitt CC (lost 2 of 3), Louisburg, and Wilkes CC (split, 2 game a piece).

LCC is @ Mt. Olive JV on Wednesday and @ Methodist JV on Thursday before traveling to Surry CC for a 4 game series this weekend.

LCC will play Louisburg two more times this year. Once at NC State in mid-April, and again at Grainger Stadium in Kinston (home of Single A - Kinston Indians) late in the season.

LCC and Southeastern will play each other @ LCC to close out the regular season, and then turn around and play each other in the Region X Div. 2 tournament held at Mt. Olive College. The winner will go to Maryland to play in the District Tournament. The world series is in Millington, TN starting May 29th.

[CFBall]

the "next level" forum perhaps? :applause: :applause:

:thinking:

[44Magnum]

Speaking of Lenoir and Surry, they met head to head this weekend with Surry pulling off the sweep of the visiting Lancers. I just saw that Surry won on their webpage, but I am not sure of the scores yet. Surry is now an impressive 36-2 on the year and Lenoir falls to 18-10. I bet Surry will move up above their #8 national ranking when the new poll is released in a couple of weeks.
And about Lenoir dropping to D-II, I heard they dropped because "They just couldn't compete with the top tier programs like Spartanburg, Surry and Louisburg." That was a quote from Lenoir's coach. That's the first I've heard about dropping because of student enrollment. The size of the school shouldn't have anything to do with what division they are playing in and I know that Lenoir is good enough to play D-I as evidenced by their win against some other D-I schools and their past success at that level. I'm sure they will do well in the D-II tourney, b/c Southeastern isn't very good this year. Good luck to both teams for the rest of the season.

[JM15]

... just got back from Surry.

We lost 4.

We led 11 out of 14 innings Saturday, and left with 2 L's.
We led 4-0 today in Game 2 until the bottom of the 6th... and they came back to win 5-4.
They won Game 1 on Sunday, 9-3.

If you were there, it was a very *interesting* weekend. :teeth:

Can't compete with them? I would like to see where that comment was made about us not being able to compete with them.
We have split with Louisburg so far this year with 2 more games remaining (@ NCSU, @ Grainger Stadium in Kinston).
We beat Potomac State and Briarcliffe (each were Top 20 in D1 JUCO polls at some point this season).
We led most of the weekend against #8 Surry (on the road), just didn't finish.
We swept Blue Ridge on the road.

It was a heart-breaking 4-hour ride home...

We play Methodist JV team at home on Wednesday.. and then go to Spartanburg-Methodist Fri. and Sat. for DH's on each day.

We host Southeastern in the final weekend of the regular season, before turning around to play them @ Mt. Olive College for the Conference Tournament. The winner of that goes to Maryland for the District, and the winner of the District advances to the D2 JUCO World Series in Millington, TN.

[homerun]

What is the web site for rankings

[JM15]

I think the best place is
http://www.njcaa.org

The next D2 poll comes out April 7th according to that website. The D1 poll is updated a lot more frequently.

[44Magnum]

JM15,
I was just saying what I was told Coach Hartsell had said. It doesn't sound like something he would say, and that's why I questioned it. Like I said earlier, Lenoir is more than good enough to compete on the DI level. I just don't understand why they would drop down to DII. I was not trying to put them down by any means. If I were to be ranking my favorite teams from Region X I would say Lenoir is my second favorite team in the conference. I believe Lenoir's teams are always well coached and tough to beat. I believe they work hard, have good overall attitudes and compete to win. I also believe Coach Hartsell runs a straight program. I do believe they are the third best team, on the field, in Region X though. I would have to rank the Region X conference like this for right now:

1. Surry (Due to their overall record, 36-2, their split with Louisburg and their sweep of Lenoir, no matter the scores. Surry has a dangerous road ahead as they travel the rest of the season, to Pitt, Rockingham and Blue Ridge.)
2. Louisburg (Due to their split with Surry and split with Lenoir. Still have to face Rockingham, Wilkes, USC-Salk. and Lenoir. May come on strong late in the season due to a weaker schedule than most of the other top teams.)
3. Lenoir (Would be higher had they won a game or two at Surry, but pushed up due to splitting so far with Louisburg and sweeping Blue Ridge. Have a crucial series at Spartanburg coming up this weekend.)
4. Blue Ridge (Could move up late in the season as they host Surry and Spartanburg at home. Also have fallen backwards due to being swept by Lenoir.)
5. Spartanburg Methodist (Swept in two games series versus Surry, and following two losses to Rockingham and one loss to Pitt and three losses to Louisburg. Could move up with wins at Blue Ridge.)
6. Pitt (Several big wins so far this season against Lenoir and Rockingham. Look to be improving on last season's 8th place finish. Still to face Surry at home.)
7. Rockingham (Several key wins so far this season and could push up on my rankings if they defend their home turf versus Surry. Loss to USC-Salk. doesn't help, but three wins against Blue Ridge and two against Spartanburg get more emphasis if they pull off some other big wins late.)
8. Wilkes (Playing very strong compared to last season. Have had several close calls, but can't seem to get the bigger wins. Look for an upset or two from the Cougars before the year is out.)
9. Southeastern (Very weak compared to last season's success. Loss of their top pitcher hurt their team. Should be stronger in next few years.)
10. USC-Salk. (Not very good although they have one a big game here and there. Last season their program will be around it appears.)

This is my thoughts and my thoughts only. So I apologize if I offended you JM15. You do a great job of keeping all of us on here informed and we all appreciate that. Good luck to you and the rest of the Lancers.

[JM15]

Sorry if it seemed like I snapped back in my previous response. I was a little ill last night when getting home. I appreciate what you have said about us.

See you in Millington

[44Magnum]

Very understandable. No harm done here. Good luck to you guys and hope to see you all representing Region X in Millington.

[bbfan123@hotmail.com]

Just saw where Young Harris (31-5) is # 2 and Surry (36-2) is # 5 in the most recent NJCAA Division I poll. Congrats to both of these outstanding programs.

[44Magnum]

I saw that too. Surry is climbing!! Young Harris must be pretty darn good too! Another interesting note, Surry is leading the NATION in wins, fewest losses (tied) and winning percentage.

[JM15]

LCC is 22-11... And this is a D2 squad playing all D1 teams except for the final weekend of the series when we host Southeastern.

Just recently split with Spartanburg-Methodist on the road.
Got swept by Surry on the road (losing 3 of them late in the game).
Swept Blue Ridge on the road.
Split with Louisburg, still play them 2 more times.
Beat Potomac State (WV) and Briarcliffe (NY).

I am personally shocked we are not in the most recent D2 JUCO poll... I wonder if they have our scores and stats.

Aaron Ranft, has over 50 RBI's for us already (I think after this weekend he is up to 52-54). And if you look at the D2 RBI leaders on the njcaa website, that is around the top in the nation, if not the most.

[44Magnum]

Two more big wins for the Lancers. It seems as if there is a changing of the guard in Region X this year. With Surry, Lenoir and Blue Ridge running to the top of the Region X standings while Louisburg and Spartanburg continue to slide. I just saw on Surry's website where they won 3 of 4 from Rockingham. Their overall record is now 41-3, which if I'm not mistaken, is tied for the most wins in school history with 14 or so games remaining on their schedule. The DI tournament should be interesting to see if Louisburg or Spartanburg can reclaim the magic and win the title or if one of the younger up and coming programs like Surry or Blue Ridge can pull it away. Surry came close last year and Rockingham the year before. Maybe this year is the year when the tradition of the older schools finally dies out.

[The "O"]

changing of the guards it seeems to me! Loiusburg and Pitt use to DOMINATE the JUCO circuit for years especially inthe 70, 80 and 90's! Surry and their COACHES in the "recruiting" process have obviously and continue to GET IT DONE! :applause: :applause: :applause:

[44Magnum]

You are correct in that Louisburg and Pitt used to dominate, but Pitt started their program in the mid 90s. They were very good at the start of their program, but once they lost Eddie Loesner (Asst. Coach) to ECU it seemed to go downhill from there. Pitt seems to be rebounding a little this year from last year's bad year. I think this year's juco tournament could be the tournament to see with all the talent in the conference. They have several players in Region X that will may professionally after the season as well as several freshmen that could be drafted come June, and the great thing is each team has players that have a chance at being drafted. JM15 could maybe fill us in on who he thinks is some of the top players in the conference. Some of my top players are (and not in any particular order):

Herring, Pitcher (Lenoir)
Lovett, OF/1B (Louisburg)
Dickens, Pitcher (Surry)*
Harris, Pitcher (Surry)*
Morton, Pitcher (Lenoir)!!
Adkins, Pitcher (Rockingham)
Marks, Pitcher (Rockingham)
Cline, OF (Blue Ridge)
McSwain 3B/1B (Blue Ridge)
Simpson SS (Surry)
Thornburg Pitcher (Spartanburg)
White 3B (Surry)
Letchworth Pitcher (Pitt)
Seth Pitts Pitcher (Pitt)
Phillips SS (Louisburg)*
Graham 1B (Surry)
Hodge OF (Louisburg)
Klinger Pitcher (Blue Ridge)
Richmond OF (Spartanburg)
Bowes P (Louisburg)
Stanley OF (Surry)
Otto OF (Lenoir)
Ranft OF (Lenoir)
Macanas SS (Lenoir)
Sutton Pitcher (Lenoir)
Franks 2B (Lenoir)
Kimble DH (Wilkes)
Cushman C (Surry)


(*= drafted last season)

These are just a few off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more that are playing well right now.

[JM15]

That is a good list. There are some names that you have left out that list, but as a player, I don't feel like it is my place to call them out. :thinking:

We have a guy that is quickly approaching 60 rbi's (Aaron Ranft, Sophomore, OF/3B). :applause:

The level of talent in Region X is amazing, I honestly have been shocked each time we play someone new.

Does anyone know where I can find information on other JUCO D2 teams? I know Southeastern is D2 from Region X along with Lenoir, but are we the only two in NC? The njcaa website doesn't have much updated/in depth information about other D2 squads.

Remember:
LCC vs. Louisburg, 7:00, @ NCSU. Thursday, April 15th.

[44Magnum]

New poll came out today. YH sitting strong at #2, Surry falls two spots to #7 after two losses to Pitt this past weekend. Still no other NC, SC or GA schools other than these two in the poll. With a little over two weeks left until the Region X tournament, the season is almost over. Hard to believe it has gone this fast.

P.S. Just a note of reminder, whoever wins the Region X tournament will host the District Championships, so it will be a good chance for Carolinians to see some of the East Coasts top teams battle it out for a trip to Grand Junction, home of the Division I JUCO World Series. Region X has been represented the last three years in a row!!!