Andon Lewis ready to make huge impact at the Juco World Series
♦ Calhoun graduate will be in the starting lineup Saturday night for St. John’s River State
With each passing day (and game), the St. John’s River State Junior College baseball team in Palatka, Florida is making history.
And 2022 Calhoun High School graduate Andon Lewis, who is a freshman starting at first base for the Vikings, is playing a huge part in it.
For the first time in school history, St. John’s River State, which is a little south of Jacksonville, is playing in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NCJAA) Division II World
Series, which begins Saturday night at the David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Oklahoma when the Vikings play Madison (WI) College, which is making their 17th trip to baseball’s Big Dance.
The Vikings, who qualified for the JUCO World Series by winning the South Atlantic District playoffs for the first time ever nearly two weeks by defeating Lenoir Community College in two straight games on their home field in Palatka, are the fifth-seed in the field with Madison College the four.
“It’s an absolute blessing to be a part of this team,” Lewis said Wednesday night, hours before the team was to leave Thursday morning for Oklahoma. “We feel like we’ve had a very good season and we’re so excited about going to Enid and getting this opportunity to play in the (Junior College) World Series.
We’ve worked so hard as a team since the fall to get to this point and to see that it’s all paid off, it’s an awesome feeling because this was our goal. We talked about getting to the World Series and making history back in the fall of last year when we started our workouts and now we’re going and we have made history. I just feel blessed and so fortunate to be a part of it.”
And his play at the plate, where he sported a batting average north of .300, and in the field, where he sparkled defensively, is a big reason the team is still playing with June approaching.
Since beating out two other candidates in the fall and being told he would be the team’s starting first baseman, Lewis has made a seamless transition
from high school to JUCO baseball, starting 54 games this year for the Vikings and he heads into the World Series with a .307 batting average, with seven home runs and 45 RBI. He also had 13 doubles and 25 walks and an onbase percentage of .423.
“When I was told that I was going to be the starting first baseman, it was the great feeling I’ve had this season,” Lewis said. “And I’ve just tried to play my best and bring that energy every day. Everyone on this team is really good, so I’ve just tried to focus every day on being the best college baseball player I can be and it’s been, and still is, a real learning experience. We’ve played a lot of games, but we’ve won a lot of games and had a lot of fun and grown together as a team and it’s worked out just like we wanted it to. We’re all really excited about going to Oklahoma.”
Lewis said he was confident he could make the jump in competition and his goal from the moment he set foot on campus was to be a starter.
“That’s the thing that is most important to me,” he said. “I feel like I’ve had a good year and to come in as a freshman and be a contributor and play a role in helping us get to the College World Series for the first time ever...I’m very proud of that. And that’s what I wanted to do from the time I got here. I wanted to help us win games.”
He said the biggest adjustment at the college level has been the pitching because there are just no slouches.
“Making that change from high school pitchers to college has been the biggest thing I’ve had to work on,” Lewis said. “Every college pitcher you face has a couple of quality pitches that they know they can get people out with. That they know they can put right where they want to. So you’ve got to be patient and when you see your pitch, you’ve got to try to make
the most of it.
“But I try to attack everything in the strike zone. And I try my best to avoid the bad (pitches). But I’m looking for something in the zone that I can attack. Even if it’s a little outside.”
He said there’s little doubt that playing at Calhoun High School and the level of competition they play at and against has helped him to be a starter for a team now in the JUCO World Series.
“I loved my time at Calhoun and we faced a lot of great teams and great players when I was there,” Lewis said. “And we had a lot of good players ourselves that you were going against every day in practice. And we had some very good coaches, so I definitely think playing at a program like Calhoun has helped me get here. It helped prepare me to be a college player.”
A lot of players go to the JUCO ranks in many different sports and then are recruited by four-year colleges to come play for them. Lewis said he wants to keep playing the game he loves for as long
as he can.
“I will definitely be back at St. John’s River next year,” he said. “I mean we want to go back to the World Series a second time and so I am definitely coming back because I want to be on that team. But after that, I am definitely open to being recruited again. I would love to have the opportunity to play at a (four-year) school.”
St. John’s River State College stands 44-17 on the season and went 20-10 in the Mid-Florida Conference. They began the FCSAA/DII/NCJAA playoffs by winning the Region 8 championship the first week of May in New Port Richey, Florida, defeating Palm Beach State College, 2-0, in the finals.
That moved them into the South Atlanta District best-of-three championship series against Lenoir Community College and the Vikings got the sweep, using a Lewis tworun homer to win Game One 10-0 before coming back to take Game Two 6-4 to move onto this week.
The NJCAA World Series in
Enid consists of 10 teams, each of which are seeded, with the top two seeds earning a first-round bye and it is a double-elimination event. The tournament is scheduled to run through June 2, but could last until June 3 if a winnertake-all third game in the best-ofthree finals is necessary.
Heartland Community College, located in Normal, Illinois, is the top seed at the World Series and the Hawks have an astounding 53-5 record and are averaging 12 runs per game. The Hawks are on the same side of the bracket as St. John’s River State College.
The number two seed is Lansing (Michigan) Community College, which won the Great Lakes District tournament to reach the World Series. The Stars had a 28game winning streak earlier this year and have 47 wins this year. They are on the other side of the bracket, which has five teams on each side.
To follow the bracket or the Junior College World Series go to njcaa.com