Surry Baseball Places 5th in NJCAA World Series
Auburn, NY – The Surry baseball team recently finished the 2025 season in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III World Series in Auburn, New York. The Knights finished 5th overall dropping an elimination game to the top seed in the tournament, Niagara College (NY), 16-14. "This was an incredible experience for our student-athletes and coaches," stated Surry coach, Mark Tucker. "To have an opportunity to compete for a National Championship is something special and this was certainly a special group of young men."
Surry, the tournament's 6th seed, opened World Series play against Brookdale College (NJ), the 3rd seed. The Knights opened the scoring in the top of the second when Jaden Johnson singled and scored on a homerun over the leftfield wall from Brett Morris. Brookdale scored a run in the bottom half of the second to close the gap to 2-1. Surry used an eight-run fourth inning highlighted by a three-run homer off the bat of Tate Green to take a 10-1 lead. Leyton McMahon doubled to drive in two runs followed by a two-run single from Nohr Issa. After Elijah Palmer delivered a sacrifice fly for a 7-1 Surry lead, Green blasted a three-run shot well over the wall in right scoring Lucas Graham and Zach McNeely. The Knights were able to shorten the game to seven innings holding the Jersey Blues to only one run over the final five innings of play.
Offensively, Johnson, Morris, and Issa each collected two hits each with Johnson and Morris scoring two runs each while Morris and Issa drove in two each. Green drove in three runs while scoring a run and McMahon added two RBI's and a run scored.
On the mound, Zach Helms earned the win holding the Jersey Blues at bay while working 6 1/3 innings allowing only five hits and one earned run. The sophomore righthander walked four and notched eight strikeouts. Jackson Greene finished with 2/3 innings pitched allowing one hit while striking out one. "Brookdale came into the tournament on a roll having beaten RCSJ-Gloucester for the North Atlantic District Championship, so we knew that we would have to play well," said Tucker.
Surry advanced to face the two-time defending National Champions from Rowan County South Jersey-Gloucester. The Knights took a quick, 2-0 lead on the Roadrunners on a two-run double off the bat of Jaden Johnson. RCSJ-Gloucester responded with two runs in the bottom half of the first inning. The Roadrunners broke open a 2-2 tie in the second plating five runs for a 7-2 lead. RCSJ-Gloucester would add three runs in the third and two in the fourth for a final of 12-2. The loss ended Surry's 16 game consecutive winning streak. "We had not lost a game since April 6, so it was certainly a feeling that we had not experienced in about seven weeks. Gloucester is a tremendous program with several National Championships over the past few years, so we certainly had a lot of respect for their program," added Tucker.
Surry was led at the plate by Johnson with a double and two RBI's. Palmer had a double and scored a run while Graham walked twice and scored a run. McNeely also added a hit. Maddox Nelson took the loss pitching 1 2/3 innings while allowing six hits and six earned runs with two walks. Abram Apel worked 1/3 of an inning allowing three earned runs off five hits with one strikeout. Konor Davis worked 1 1/3 innings allowing two earned runs off one hit while walking one and striking out one. Nolan Tovornik finished on the mound for Surry by not allowing a run in 2/3 innings while striking out one and allowing a hit.
With the loss, Surry faced Niagara College (50-1) in an elimination game. Surry raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning as Palmer plated McNeely on an RBI double and Green drove in Graham and Palmer. After the Thunderwolves cut the Surry lead to 5-4 in the third, the Knights struck for five runs in the bottom half of the inning with the big blow coming on a bases clearing triple from Green to push the Surry lead to 10-5. Niagara put up four runs in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 10-9 before scoring single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to take a 11-10 lead. Surry would answer back in the bottom of the seventh with three runs to go up, 13-11. The Knights would add a run in the eighth to increase their lead to 14-11. On the brink of elimination, the Thunderwolves rallied for five runs in the ninth and held on for a 16-14 win.
Surry pounded out 18 hits and was led by Green and McNeely with three hits each. McNeely also scored three runs and drove in one with two walks while Green paced Surry with five RBI's on the day. Palmer, Johnson, Morris, Caleb Darbutt, and Emory Taylor added two hits each with Palmer scoring two runs and driving in three.
On the mound, Surry starter Brooks Kinser pitched the first three innings allowing six earned runs off three hits while walking five and striking out one. Jackson Greene worked five innings allowing five earned runs off seven hits while walking five and striking out three. Zach Helms pitched the final inning allowing four earned runs off four hits with one walk.
Surry finished the season with an overall record of 37-14 while capturing the Region 10 Championship and the Mid-Atlantic District Championship. In addition, Surry earned the prestigious NJCAA World Series Sportsmanship Award awarded by the National Junior College Athletic Association. "To earn the NJCAA World Series Sportsmanship Award in both baseball and softball at the World Series shows what our programs are all about," stated Tucker. "This was my favorite group of kids that I have ever coached. I cannot explain how much I love these kids."
RCSJ-Gloucester captured the NJCAA Division III National Championship defeating Century College, 16-1 for a third consecutive year.