Northeastern Junior College baseball season ends with historic postseason run

Central Arizona College ended Northeastern Junior College’s postseason run with a 9-0 win in the West District Tournament on May 26, but the loss could not erase what the Plainsmen built across a season that changed expectations around Sterling baseball.

The game turned quickly. Central Arizona scored three runs in the second inning after Weinmeyer singled and Haas followed with a home run to left, then blew the contest open in the third when Lanphere launched a grand slam to right. Tony Slizowski took the loss for Northeastern, while Brock Johnson earned the win for Central Arizona. NJC finished with seven hits and no runs.

That final box score closed the book on a 2025-26 season that ranked among the best in program history. Northeastern went 42-18 overall, 24-4 in conference play and played 60 games, posting a .700 winning percentage that reflected both consistency and power. The Plainsmen hit .354 as a team, reached base at a .455 clip, slugged .634 and blasted 121 home runs, numbers that put this group in a different class from most NJC lineups.

The milestone list was just as striking. On May 3, Northeastern beat Western Nebraska Community College 20-13 in the annual Pack the Park game, a win the school said gave the Plainsmen their first 40-win regular season since 2013. Less than two weeks earlier, on April 24, NJC said it had become the first Region IX team ever to finish a season with 100 home runs and 150 stolen bases, a combination that showed how aggressively this roster could change a game on both the bases and at the plate.

For Sterling, that mattered beyond the standings. Plainsmen Park is one of the most visible college sports venues in Logan County, and NJC’s third annual Pack the Park event was built around that community role, with free admission, dinner for the first 500 fans, fireworks and a promise that proceeds would go toward future upgrades. NJC has also linked the park’s future to a survey and funding effort with the City of Sterling, Logan County, Banner Health, the Sterling Correctional Facility and Great Outdoors Colorado.

Head coach Andrew Kachel, who has led the program since 2019, leaves this spring with a team that pushed the standard higher. The postseason ended in Arizona, but the season left NJC baseball with a deeper footprint in Region IX, a stronger case as one of the college’s signature programs and a clear expectation that next year’s Plainsmen will be measured against a historic run.