Paul Szmal: FLX Morning continues coming up on 752 and joining me now to talk about an event happening at Falcon Park in Auburn over the course of a week or so is Ed Holinski. Ed, good morning. How are you, sir?
Ed Helinski: Good morning, Paul. Good morning, everybody. How are you doing today?
Paul Szmal: Doing great. You know, Ed, if you're a WAUB listener doing play-by-play for all sorts of different sports, and well, it's a sporting event that we happen to be talking about. It's the return of the National Junior College Division III World Series to the city of Auburn.
Ed Helinski: Yeah, that's going to happen starting Saturday, and it's an exciting time, the second year in a row for it to happen. I want to give a big shout out to President Brian Durant over at Cayuga Community College and John Rizzo, the Athletic Director, for putting in these bids to get the tournament or the World Series, I should say, last year, this year, and in 2027, so it's a big deal coming to Auburn and the Finger Lakes region, and there's some great baseball teams coming in to play.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, absolutely, and we can talk about the teams in a minute. This is, when we say World Series, the format for a collegiate World Series is a little bit different than the standard seven games that we're used to in the majors.
Ed Helinski: Yeah, this is a double-elimination tournament, but basically, with the eight teams, I think the first team to get to either win four games wins it all, so it's a grueling type situation. Probably a lot of pressure packed as well, too, but these teams coming in all have fantastic records, have fantastic stories, and have some fantastic teams, so I mean, I'm looking forward to it. I mean, I'm looking forward to calling, being one of the broadcasters with Ron Case, I'm looking forward to calling these 14 or 15 games that'll be involved with this World Series.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, and what a wonderful place to have it at Falcon Park. It is the best facility. Back in 2019, when they went to an artificial surface and put in a fantastic drainage system, you know, if we have heavy rain at Falcon Park, 20 minutes after the rains, we're playing baseball because the water, it just comes right off that field immediately.
Ed Helinski: Yeah, and unfortunately, the forecast is looking a little bit iffy for the start of things, so hopefully, that drainage won't be put into effect.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, I mean, hopefully, there'll be just a short live. We're starting Saturday at 9.30 in the morning already, 9.30, 12.45 for the second game, 4 p.m. for the third game, and then 7.15 for the last game on Saturday, and the same schedule applies for Sunday. Of course, things are going to change as well, too. If we get any lightning, then that's a bigger issue because that's an immediate 30-minute wait for something like that.
Ed Helinski: Yeah, and one of the teams that is playing is from down the road a ways, the Sydney-Niagara Thunderwolves based out of Sanborn, New York, and I cannot believe this, and you even wrote here in the notes, not a typo, these guys are coming in with a 49-0 record?
Paul Szmal: That's an unbelievable record. You know, the funny thing about this, Paul, is I attended that school for a year in the mid-70s, and I was the sports editor of this school newspaper, The Spirit, so this is kind of like a homecoming for me, and yes, 49-0 for this team. They defeated a very good Finger Lakes Community College team last week in the regionals, blitzed them one game, it was 10-0 in five innings, and in the finals, the championship game won 18-6. So, 49-0, you know how hard that is to do?
Ed Helinski: Yeah, and here's some other eye-popping stats for those of you that are baseball stat geeks. The batting average for the team is a 419, they've scored 484 runs in 49 games, the opposing batting average is only 183, the team ERA is 2.11. That's nuts!
Paul Szmal: Yeah, and they've also pitched 16 shutouts in their victories, so I mean, it's unbelievable. I'm looking forward to it, and when I say, go Thunderwolves.
Ed Helinski: Yeah, absolutely. Also, teams out of North Carolina, Massachusetts, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey, and White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
Paul Szmal: Right. We're waiting on the at-large team that will be announced today at 3 o'clock on the NJCAA website, where they do a selections show. So we've got some possible teams that could be named Rowan College out of South Jersey at Gloucester County, they're the defending champions who won last year. They've won two NJCAA World Series so far. You know, Dallas College Eastfield, they appeared last year's NJCAA, they're ranked number four, they got knocked out in their regionals. Hudson Valley Community College, ranked number five. Herkimer Community College appeared in the 2024 NJCAA World Series, ranked number six. So it'll be interesting to see who becomes that eighth team, and then how teams are then seeded.
Ed Helinski: So the plot thickens with this. And the funny thing is that we mentioned Gloucester, I had family that lived in Gloucester when I was growing up.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, I mean, they've got a terrific, Rowan College, they've got a terrific baseball program there. My broadcast partner, Ron Case, was the AD at Gloucester for 25 years, so he knows quite a bit about the program, he knows quite a bit about NJCAA World Series, and it's going to be a pleasure to be working with him.
Ed Helinski: Alright, now if people want to go check the games out here, Ed, what's the cost of admission, so on and so forth?
Paul Szmal: If they want to come in person, a day pass is $10 for as many games. Seniors and kids are $8. If you want to watch online, on-demand streaming from NJCAA.org, a day pass is $12. And if you want the whole World Series, it's only $35. And you're going to see either 14 or 15 great baseball games from a lot of great programs here in the United States.
Ed Helinski: Well, they certainly make it affordable, $10, and I could sit there and watch four baseball games, I'm down with that.
Paul Szmal: Exactly, and you know, there's not a bad seat in Falcon Park whatsoever. I mean, you can get down and enjoy the box seats in the sun, or if you've got to stay out of the rain, which might be the case, you've got the grandstand there that seats quite a bit of people as well. The whole ballpark seats 2,800 people, so there's plenty of room, and like I said, not a bad seat in the house.
Ed Helinski: Yeah, absolutely, and the games start on Saturday. So Ed, thanks for the information, much appreciated, sir.
Paul Szmal: Thanks so much, Paul.
