Kellogg Community College’s baseball team is ranked eighth in the nation in the latest 2020 National Junior College Athletic Association Division II Baseball Preseason Rankings, which were released Tuesday.
The Bruins are one of just two teams in Michigan and the only team in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association Western Conference to appear on the latest ranked list, which includes the top 20 teams in the division in the nation. Lansing Community College, which is part of the MCCAA Eastern Conference, appears in 16th place.
The ranking is calculated according to the combined rankings of regional NJCAA coaches along with insights from those who make up the NJCAA DII Baseball Committee.
KCC’s baseball team has established a continuing tradition of excellence on and off the field under Head Coach Eric Laskovy, who last season finished his 20th year of coaching baseball at KCC and 13th as the head coach. The team has qualified for the NJCAA D2 World Series seven times since 1999 – including in 2019 – and has claimed 12 Michigan Community College Athletic Association Conference Championships, including 10 since 2005.
The Bruins ended the Spring 2019 season as conference, state and regional champions, finishing seventh in the nation in the NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series in Enid, Oklahoma, in May. The team finished with an overall record of 40-15 and a conference record of 26-2.
Nine KCC baseball players were also honored with postseason athletic awards from the MCCAA and the NJCAA. Honorees included freshman Adam Henderson, of Vicksburg, whose awards included NJCAA DII First-Team All-American honors in addition to the MCCAA Western Conference Player of the Year award.
Fifteen Bruin baseball players also earned postseason academic awards for exemplary achievement in the classroom, while the team as a whole earned MCCAA and NJCAA All-Academic Team honors with a 3.02 team GPA. Sophomore Mark Scannell, of Grand Rapids, was named KCC’s 2019 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Additionally, Coach Laskovy earned his ninth MCCAA Coach of the Year award and was also named NJCAA North District Coach of the Year.
The Spring 2020 baseball season kicked off with the first official day of practice on Jan. 10. The Bruins will open their season with the team’s annual spring trip to Eunice, Louisiana, in late February, where they’ll play the first three games of their schedule against Louisiana State University Eunice – the team ranked second in the nation in the latest NJCAA poll.
For more information about KCC baseball, including a full season schedule, a roster and official team and individual photos for use by fans and the media, visit www.kellogg.edu/baseball.
For more news about Kellogg Community College, view our latest press releases online at https://daily.kellogg.edu/category/news-releases.