Westchester Community College's World Series Bid, 2024

by Warren Rosenberg and Lynette Morales

The closest the New York Metro region has come to capturing an NCAA Division I college World Series Championship was back in 1947 when Yale University made it to the championship game but lost to teams from California in the College World Series. In NCAA Division II, New Haven made it to the D-II Championships in 1980 and 1989 but failed to capture the crown. In the NCAA D-III Division, several metro area teams captured the Championship including Eastern Connecticut which won the championship in 2022, 2002, 1998, 1990 and 1982; William Patterson in 1996 and 1992 Ramapo College in 1984 among others. In Women’s Softball there have been no metro area championship contenders since the series began in 1982.

Above: 2024 World Series contenders, the Westchester Community College Vikings. Photo Credit - Lynette Morales

At the community college level the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) recently hosted its World Series in Enid, Oklahoma, and competing there with a chance for the national championship were the Westchester Community College Vikings baseball team. The Viking's last trip to the NJCAA National Tournament was back in 2014 when they swept the Region 15 Tournament, progressed through the District Tournament winning three of four games and progressed to the National Tournament.

If we look back at the NCAA D-I, D-II, and D-III teams and the NCAA Women’s Softball teams, the Vikings are the first college team from Westchester County to have ever made it to a College World Series.

Above: The WCC Vikings team bus being escorted off campus by the Westchester County Police and Valhalla Fire Department. Photo credit - Westchester Commnity College social media video. Below right: Scene from the World Series. Photo credit- Lynette Morales

On their way to the World Series the WCC Vikings captured the NJCAA D2 East District Championship by defeating the University of Connecticut at Avery Point (UConn-Avery Point) two times by scores of 9-5 and 17-7 having previously defeated them twice before in the regular season. After capturing the East District crown, the Vikings moved on to the NJCAA D2 National Finals winning their game against Kellogg Community College with a score of 10-6 earning them a berth in the NJCAA World Series where they were matched against 9th seeded Des Moines Area Community College. Unfortunately, the World Series quest ended with a two Vikings losses to Saint Johns River State College and Des Moines Area Community College.

In terms of individual accomplishments, Vikings’ Head Coach Billy McClure earned his 400th career win as coach (photo below);  Tommy Poggi and Marc Stockhausen each notched their 100th career hit, and Jackson Kossow and Mike Tiseo were received National Player of the Week honors in the NJCAA.  Ten WCC Vikings players were named to the All-Region Team, with one of them also being named as Region 15 Player of the Year (Poggi) and one named Region 15 Pitcher of the Year (Kossow). 

Above: WCC Vikings baseball coach, Billy McClure, recognized on achieving his 400th coaching win. Photo credit- Westchester Community College Instagram

More information on the Vikings post-season play can be found on the Westchester Community College website. https://gowccvikings.com/news/2024/5/29/history-making-season-comes-to-an-end-for-vikings-baseball.aspx