TYLER, TEXAS -- The Ridgewater Warriors will play the fourth game of the day on Saturday at the NJCAA DIII Baseball T ournament at Mike Carter Field on the campus to Tyler Junior College.
The Warriors (33-5-1), No. 2-ranked nationally, will play Hudson Valley (N.Y.) Community College (31-8) at 7 p.m. Sophomore Eric Locnikar will start for Ridgewater.
Other quarterfinal-round match-ups are Suffolk County CC (30-7) of Grant, N.Y., vs. Gloucester County (N.J.) College (38-11) at 9 a.m; Joliet (Ill.) Junior College (45-11) vs. Montgomery College (35-10) of Germantown, Md. at noon; and Richland (Texas) College (38-21) vs. Manchester (Conn.) Community College (29-11-2) at 3 p.m.
While Ridgewater is the highest-ranked team in the field, the favorite might well be Richland (Texas) College of suburban Dallas. In winning their qualifying tournament, the Ducks (45-14) knocked out No. 1-ranked North Arkansas and defending national champion Tyler, Texas. Richland won three consecutive World Series championships starting in 2002.
Ridgewater has played in six of the past seven World Series. The Warriors were national runner-up in 2005.
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This will be the seventh World Series for Warriors coach Dwight Kotila, who announced his resignation on Wednesday, just before the team left by bus for Texas. Kotila also took Riverland CC of Austin to the national tournament in 1998 before accepting the job in Willmar.
Live coverage of the tournament is available on the Web at Tylerbaseball.com/series.
