Shelton State baseball travels to NJCAA World Series

By WVUA 23 Sports Reporter Juliet Brown

The Shelton State baseball team leaves Tuesday for Grand Junction, Colorado. The Buccaneers stamped its ticket to the  NJCAA World Series when it won the Alabama Community College Conference Baseball Tournament. This will be the team’s second time in three years making it to the World Series.

The Bucs last trip to Grand Junction came in 2021. Shelton State won its first game against Walters State Community College 13-7. The Bucs were eliminated after dropping their next two games 11-10 and 24-14.

This year’s team hopes to make a deeper run in the World Series. Shelton State’s baseball head coach Bobby Sprowl said the key to having success in Grand Junction is playing good baseball and adjusting to the crowd size.

“Stay away from big innings, can’t walk guys, can’t make errors, and the team that adjusts to big crowds will do fine,” Sprowl said. “I think that’s the biggest adjustment teams have out there is we’re used to playing in front of hundreds and there’s gonna be as many as 14,000 people at a game.”

Left-handed pitcher, Tate Robertson, will play a crucial part in preventing big innings. The freshman earned ACCC Tournament MVP honors after pitching 16 innings, striking out 16 batters, and didn’t walk anyone. Robertson having a similar performance in Grand Junction would give the team a great chance at winning games in the World Series.

“For me, I just do my job, make pitches, get outs, let the guys behind me do their job and we’ll get runs in,” Robertson said.

The NJCAA World Series start May 27 and lasts through June 3.