Every baseball player knows that with every season comes a lot of hard work and dedication. As the Apaches get past the mid-point of their season, they are sitting at third place in the national polls with a 35-11 record.
Nobody expected TJC to be doing this well after losing head coach Jon Groth who led the team to a World Series Victory in 2007.
“Nobody was expecting us to do as good as we are. I talked to the team, and everybody knew we just had to move on and play our best,” said head coach Doug Wren.
In recent years, Apache baseball has won one World Series and been to the playoffs numerous times.
“We’re not fooling anybody. Baseball has always been a great success at TJC, and we’re not going to let that die,” said Matt McManemin, Apache infielder.
The Apaches still have until the beginning of May to finish the regular season, then maybe have a seat in the playoffs.
“We got to make it to playoffs,” said pitcher Taylor Pepper. “Right now, the number 1 team is Eastfield College, so we want to beat them in the playoffs.”
Throughout the season, the Apaches have won several big games, and Coach Wren believes that that they can beat almost anyone. Their most talked about game was against Western Oklahoma State when TJC came back from behind at the end of the game and ended up winning 5-3.
“That was a great win for the team. They didn’t give up and their hard work paid off,” said Wren.
Despite the games the team has won this season, Coach Wren always tells his players that they have to treat their next game like it’s their biggest.
” He always lets us know that no matter who we play, that we need to play like it’s a championship game,” said Pepper.Wren’s coaching and motivation has paid off because a playoff spot is almost a sure thing for the team.
“He pushes his team hard and they deserve the great success that is approaching them in the future,” said Eddy McGuire, head athletic trainer.
McGuire was a trainer before Wren was named head coach and he believes that Wren is going to be just as good or better than Groth.
“I saw many great things that Groth did for the team, and already experiencing the things that Wren has it’s just amazing,” said McGuire.
The Apaches last regular season game is on April 26 versus Texarkana College at Mike Carter Field. Then they will move on to play in the MAC play-in series starting April 30. The winner of that will advance to the District C Tournament against other former MAC teams May 7-9.
