Boomers Stadium home to junior college playoffs
For the second straight season, Boomers Stadium will be the place to be for fans of junior college baseball playoff action.
This weekend, six of Region IV's best teams will be vying for a trip to the NJCAA Division II and III World Series in games Friday through Sunday.
Tops among the field is Madison Area Technical College (Wis). The Wolfpack (39-10) is ranked No. 18 in the most recent NJCAA Division II poll and meets Morton (13-35) at noon Friday in the first game.
Des Plaines' Oakton Community College (39-15) battles Black Hawk College (34-22) from Moline, Ill., in Friday's 3:30 p.m. Division II semifinal. Oakton comes in riding a three-game winning streak.
The final game of the first day, at 7 p.m., features a pair of Division III teams with a long history against one another as one-time rivals in the North Central Community College Conference - Illinois Valley Community College and Joliet Junior College.
Joliet advanced with a 7-4 win over Harper College last weekend, while IVCC (33-17) makes the trip from downstate Oglesby having won its last two games.
The Division II tournament will be a double-elimination affair, while the two Division III teams will play a best-of-three with a single game Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if necessary).
Saturday's schedule features Division II games at 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., with the second games of the Division III series slated for 4 p.m.
Sunday will have the Division II championship game at noon, followed by a deciding game at 3 p.m. for Division III (if necessary).