Posted: May 25, 2026
No. 8 SMCC Baseball Defeats No. 12 Wake Tech to Extend Run at World Series
Wake Technical Community College
(31-24)
2
South Mountain Community College
(48-17)
6
| TOP 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Wake Technical Community College | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
|
South Mountain Community College | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | X | 6 | 6 | 0 |
All Photos Courtesy of NJCAA
PHOENIX ---
The South Mountain Community College baseball team (48-17) defeated Wake Tech (NC) 6-2 in an elimination game at the 2026 NJCAA Division II World Series at David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Okla. Sophomore Grant Young turned in an impressive performance on the mound for SMCC, tossing 7.2 innings with six hits, two earned runs, and five strikeouts to improve to 3-0 on the season. Freshman Sergio Garcia tossed 1.1 innings of hitless relief to earn the save. Offensively, sophomore Bobby Pierce Jr. had a double and three RBIs, and sophomore Luke Hewes blasted his second home run of the tournament in the win.
After allowing a leadoff double to start the game, Young retired 13-straight Eagles before a one-out single in the fifth. He got the next batter to roll over into a double play, and only ran into trouble in the sixth when Wake Tech tied the game at 2-2.
SMCC got a pair of runs in the first to take an early lead. Pierce Jr. walked to start the inning, and consecutive singles from sophomore Bryan Lorenz and freshman Aidan Murphy loaded the bases. Pierce Jr. scored on a wild pitch, and sophomore Jack Meissner drove in Lorenz with a sac fly.
Hewes broke the deadlock with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth, his eighth of the season. The next batter, freshman Liu Rodriguez Jr., singled, and a pitch hit sophomore Ernie Alvarez to put two on with one out. After both runners moved up 90 feet on a groundout to first, Pierce Jr. plated both with a two-run double, his 14th of the season, to make it 5-2.
The Cougars tacked on an insurance run in the eighth on an RBI fielder's choice from Pierce Jr. that plated Hewes. Garcia recorded four consecutive groundouts to pick up the save for SMCC.
Rodriguez Jr. was 2 for 4 with a run, sophomore Nuri Todd drew two walks, and Murphy had a stolen base.
SMCC advances to face the winner of Parkland-East Central in another elimination game on Tuesday, May 26. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. CT / 11 a.m. MT (AZ).