WC finishes World Series in third place, four named All-Tournament

              Weatherford College wrapped up the greatest baseball season in school history with a third place finish at the NJCAA Division I World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado.  

              In their fifth game of the series, WC lost to the No. 1 seed, the College of Central Florida, 14-13 Friday night at Sam Suplizio Field. Central Florida beat Wabash Valley College (IL) the following night for the Patriots' first national championship.

              WC's Robin Villeneuve, Jack Arthur, Kanon Sundgren and Ryne Rodriguez earned All-Tournament Team honors.

              Villeneuve and Arthur tied for the most home runs in the tournament with four each. Villeneuve had the second most total bases at 22 and hit .444, going 8-for-18 with two doubles, six RBI and four walks. Arthur had the fourth most RBI with 10 and hit .304.

              Sundgren and Jack Clark tied for the second-best batting average in the tournament at .563 (minimum 15 at-bats). Sundren was 9-for-16 with six RBI and three walks. Clark was 9-for-16 with seven RBI and seven walks.

              Rodriguez pitched the most innings in the tournament with 11 and had the fourth-most strikeouts with 14.  

              In Friday's elimination game, Weatherford got on the board first with a two-run home run by Sundgren and an RBI single by Clark. Central Florida (56-7) would follow in the bottom of the inning with seven runs.

              In the third, trailing 7-3, the Coyotes added a run off a Villeneuve homer to centerfield.  In the fourth, the Coyotes would take the lead on a Dayton Tockey double to left center scoring two.  

              In the fifth, Central Florida retook the lead, 9-8, on a home run to left field.  Up came Villeneuve for Weatherford in the sixth and tied the game up as he sent a 1-0 pitch over the centerfield wall.

              The Patriots would regain the lead 10-9 on an RBI in the sixth. In the seventh inning, Weatherford regained the lead with a three-run homer from Arthur.

              With the Coyotes leading 13-10, Central Florida hit a pair of home runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game back up at 13-13.  Juan Correa, the eventual MVP of the World Series, hit a two-run home run to left and Thad Ector hit a solo home run down the left line.

              With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Central Florida loaded the bases on a base hit and two walks.  Kainen Jorge came up and was walked on a 3-1 pitch to score what would be the game-winning run. WC reached on a one-out single by Clark but would be stranded.

              The Coyotes were 3-2 in the World Series, beating Delgado Community College (LA) 10-9 and Central Florida 14-6, losing to Wabash Valley 14-4, beating Blinn College 12-2 and losing to Central Florida in the final game Friday.

              WC finished the season with a school-record 53 wins (53-11), a conference championship, a Region V title and the team's first World Series berth.