Atchison grad Boston Bruce helps JCCC win first JUCO title

Atchison’s baseball path reached Grand Junction, Colorado, when Boston Bruce helped Johnson County Community College win its first JUCO World Series championship. The 2024 Atchison High School graduate was part of a Cavaliers team that finished 67-3, set a new JUCO wins record and beat Blinn College 8-5 on May 30 for the national title.

Bruce’s rise started in Atchison, where he was a four-year starter for coach Casey Purdy. Prep Baseball Report ranked him the No. 41 overall player in Kansas and the No. 3 catcher in the state, numbers that reflected the kind of steady development local baseball has long prized. At JCCC, he carried that work into a team that also earned perfect 32-0 conference play, a program-record 41-game winning streak and a Region 6 and District title before reaching the Alpine Bank JUCO World Series.

The Cavaliers arrived in Grand Junction as the No. 1-ranked team in the country and the tournament’s top seed, then went 5-0 at Suplizio Field. Bruce also chipped in during JCCC’s 19-2 win over Harford, when he and Briggs Roe delivered multiple run-producing hits. The championship capped a historic year for Johnson County, which finished the season with the first national championship in program history and a record 67 victories.

Bruce’s success has not slowed in the summer game. Now playing for the St. Joseph Mustangs, he went 2-for-5 with one RBI in a home win over Chillicothe on June 6 at Phil Welch Stadium. KQ2’s Brett Kennedy has followed Bruce’s early weeks with the Mustangs, including his first impressions of the roster and his excitement about playing in one of the area’s best-known ballparks.

Bruce also earned NJCAA All-Academic second-team honors at Johnson County, adding classroom performance to the resume that began at Atchison High. For younger players in Atchison, his path is a clear one: stay in the lineup, keep improving against top competition, and let the next level come to you.