Kankakee wins first DII World Series
The Cavaliers knocked off Mercer County 11-5 to claim national title
CHAMPIONSHIP HOME | RESULTS | TOURNAMENT AWARDS
ENID, Okla. – No. 7 Kankakee (IL) defeated No.4 Mercer County (NJ) 11-5 in the 2017 Division II Baseball World Series to win its first baseball championship in program history. The Cavilers dropped the opening contest of tournament to UCONN Avery Point and rallied to win six games in seven days.
The higher seed Mercer County jumped out to an early 2-0 lead over Kankakee in the first stanza. World Series Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Tournament Matt Littrell of the Cavilers knocked in their first run off a sacrifice fly. After two frames Kankakee trailed 2-1, but in the fourth inning the Cavilers offense exploded with seven runs to take an 8-2 advantage heading into the fifth inning.
Both squads went scoreless in the fifth, but in the sixth Mercer County’s offense came alive and tallied three more runs to cut the deficit to 8-5. Kankakee bounced back though in the seventh and eighth frames posting three more runs to hold off the Vikings 11-5 to capture its first baseball national title at David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Oklahoma.
- Kankakee finishes its championship season with a 54-11-1 record.
- Cavilers accumulated a tournament record 78 total runs in seven tournament games, which included scoring double-digit runs in five straight games. The previous record was set by LSU-Eunice in 2010 when they garnered 70 runs.
- For the tournament Littrell averaged .500 from the plate and posted 15 RBI’s and one home run. His 15 RBI’s breaks Jordan Zimmerman’s record set in 2014 with Mesa (AZ) who knocked in 14 batters.
- Mercer County capped off its championship runner-up season with a 48-14 record.
- The Vikings’ Dennis Brady was named Pitcher of the Tournament. Brady earned two wins and only allowed two earned runs in 15 innings pitched.