Bucs Secure Third Consecutive Trip to World Series

Shelton State’s baseball team is heading to the 2025 Alpine Junior College World Series for the third consecutive season after taking down LSU Eunice 8-6 to win the South District championship.

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The Bucs are making their eighth trip to the Juco World Series and their fourth in the previous five years. This is the second time in school history that Shelton State has appeared in the World Series in three consecutive years. The last time was in the 2007, 2008, and 2009 seasons.

Shelton State (48-11) defeated LSU Eunice (53-5) two games to one after taking Game One 3-2 in extra innings, dropping Game Two 2-4, and then securing an 8-6 comeback victory in the rubber match against the Bengals. The Bucs came back from a five-run deficit after trailing 6-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning in their Game Three victory over LSU Eunice.

The Bucs answered with two runs in the bottom half of the fifth after giving up three runs in the top of the inning.

Shelton State added four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take its first lead of the contest thanks to an RBI single out to right field by outfielder Hayes Alford, who was seeing beach balls at the dish with the left fielder driving home two runs in his five at-bats, which saw the sophomore come away with three hits in Shelton State’s 8-6 game three win, with his third hit tacking on an insurance run in the eighth inning to make it a two-run ball game going into the bottom of the ninth which saw the Bucs once again for the fourth straight inning hold the Bengals scoreless and punch their ticket to the World Series.

The Bucs hit the road on Tuesday, traveling to Grand Junction, Colorado, to participate in the NJCAA Baseball D1 World Series, which will take place from May 24th to May 27th.

Shelton State will be led by longtime head coach Bobby Sprowl, who won his eighth ACCC championship this season and is leading Shelton State to its eighth Juco World Series appearance in his 35th year with the program. Sprowl was awarded the Coach's Legacy Award in March, which was presented to recognize the all-time winningest coaches in NJCAA history. Sprowl was one of the first honorees to receive this award.

Shelton State and its longtime head coach, who has been with the school since 1986 before leaving in 1990 to join Alabama as the pitching coach for the next five years before rejoining the Bucs back in 1995, will be looking for their first-ever national championship with Sprowl’s 2008 team which finished as a national runner-up, being the furthest the head coach has ever taken the program.

Follow @micahnichols0 on X (formerly known as Twitter) and tune into Tide100.9 for updates on Shelton State’s World Series run.