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For the second year in a row, a former Gator Baseball assistant coach has led his JUCO team to the NJCAA DII World Series. Head coach Ross Jones has his team, the St. Johns River State College Vikings, competing in the JUCO DII World Series.
🎉The Vikings are returning to Enid, OK!
St. Johns River State wins the South District to 👊their 🎟️to the 2024 #NJCAABaseball DII World Series and back to back trips to Enid.https://t.co/yXE80enFI5 pic.twitter.com/Yaf5wDMI07
— NJCAA Baseball (@NJCAABaseball) May 12, 2024
Ross Jones
Jones is a former Gator Baseball assistant coach; his first season at Florida was in 2002. He was the pitching coach and a recruiting coordinator for six seasons with the Gators. Jones was a part of the 2005 Gator Baseball team that went to the NCAA Division I College World Series.
He began as the St. Johns head coach in 2008 and has remained as the head coach ever since.
Jones and his Vikings Season
The Vikings have been through a roller coaster of a season. One struggle that the Vikings had to overcome was losing their starting second baseman, Roger Vergara, to a pulled hamstring. Jones said that Vergara pulled his hamstring about 20 games into the season and missed about 20 games.
Since this tournament brings teams from all over the NJCAA Division II landscape it could be hard to prepare for the teams that you have never faced in the regular season. In order to prepare his guys Ross uses everything to his advantage.
The #NJCAABaseball DII World Series bracket is HERE! ⬇️
1⃣2⃣ teams face off in Enid, OK beginning May 25th to chase a national title. Who will walk away with the hardware? 🏆
📺https://t.co/vBZ0v86LF2
💻https://t.co/PYElZXbPCc pic.twitter.com/6N5stOueuh— NJCAA Baseball (@NJCAABaseball) May 21, 2024
World Series Schedule
Fifth-seed, St. Johns River State College started off the first round of the NJCAA DII World Series with a 12-0 win over 12-seed Westchester Community College in five innings. The Vikings moved on to the second round and handled fourth-seed Heartland Community College by a final score of 12-4 in seven innings. With their second-round win the Vikings moved on to the third round of their World Series run. The third-round matchup saw the Vikings fall to first-seed Louisiana State University Eunice 4-2.
Since the NJCAA DII World Series is double elimination, the Vikings lived to see another day.
🎉The Bengals will play for a spot in the championship game!
LSU Eunice picked up the victory at the 2024 #NJCAABaseball DII World Series and will play in the semifinals on Thursday.https://t.co/PYElZXcnrK pic.twitter.com/qgNNvaJpkV
— NJCAA Baseball (@NJCAABaseball) May 29, 2024
Elimination Game
The Vikings will play an elimination game today against nine-seed Des Moines Area Community College today at 4pm. The winner will move onto the next round and face one-seed LSU Eunice.
Des Moines Area started off its tournament run with a loss to eighth-seed Kellogg Community College. The school bounced back and won the next two games to stay alive.
🏆Today's theme in Enid, OK is survive and advance!
The 2024 #NJCAABaseball DII World Series will feature 3 elimination games with the winners advance to tomorrow's semifinals games.https://t.co/PYElZXcnrK pic.twitter.com/QrKPhjiXa7
— NJCAA Baseball (@NJCAABaseball) May 29, 2024
