Wake Tech baseball heads to first NJCAA World Series

Wake Tech’s baseball team boarded a bus for Oklahoma with a piece of program history in hand: the Eagles were headed to their first NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series after winning the school’s first-ever Region 10 Division II title.

The milestone came May 12, when Wake Tech beat Brunswick Community College 12-8 in a winner-take-all championship game. The victory gave the Wake Technical Community College program its first Region 10 crown and its first berth in the national tournament, a breakthrough that carried the team from a campus better known for workforce training into one of junior college baseball’s biggest stages.

That shift mattered on campus as much as on the scoreboard. Wake Tech held a NJCAA Selection Show watch party May 19, then sent the team off May 20 at 8 a.m. at Southern Wake Campus, Building N, before the players left Wednesday for Enid. Athletic director Robin Pate said the championship was about more than wins and pointed to the student-athletes’ ability to succeed academically and athletically, a balance that fits the college’s identity in Wake County. Head coach DJ Russ called the trip an incredible achievement and said the players had worked hard all season while appreciating the support around them. For a commuter-heavy college in Raleigh that many families associate with certificates, degrees and job preparation, the postseason run gave Wake Tech a rare chance to be recognized nationally for baseball.

The World Series field in Enid, Oklahoma, included 12 teams, made up of 10 regional champions and two at-large bids. Wake Tech entered as the 12th seed and was scheduled to open against fifth-seeded East Central Community College on Saturday, May 23, at 8 p.m. EST at David Allen Memorial Ballpark. The opening ceremony was scheduled for Friday, May 22.

Enid has hosted the NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series since 2009, and the NJCAA extended its hosting agreement through 2028. The 2026 field also included defending champion Pasco-Hernando State and ranked programs such as Kellogg, South Mountain and Madison, underscoring how steep Wake Tech’s climb would be. For the Eagles, the trip marked a first national appearance and a new marker for the program, one that could strengthen the college’s profile, deepen campus pride and give future recruits a reason to see Wake Tech as more than a stop on the way to a job.