The Lake Land Lakers’ Baseball program finished the 2025 season with a 45-21 record, a .682 winning percentage, including a 24-10 Great Rivers Athletic Conference (GRAC) mark. The team was 19-3 at home, 20-13 on the road and 6-5 at neutral sites.
The Lakers Baseball team had a Cinderella-type season, finishing with one of their best records in school history. In the previous four seasons, the team has won less than half of their games and was eliminated in the conference tournament and as a result did not qualify for the national tournament, which made this past season remarkable.
For the first time since 1988, the team made it to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) World Series, finishing fourth in the tournament.
All in all, the Lakers finished their regular season record with a 34-17 record going into the Region 24 Tournament, which was held at Carterville, IL, on John A. Logan College’s campus.
In the Region 24 Tournament, the Lakers went 4-1, winning the tournament for the first time since 1998. The Lakers on May 11 swept two games from host John A. Logan College Volunteers, 6-5 and 10-5.
In the Midwest regional tournament held at the McHenry County College at Crystal Lake, IL, the Lakers fell to their GRAC foe, Southwestern Illinois College Blue Storm in the first game, 15-11, in 10 innings, putting the Lakers in the elimination bracket.
However, the Lakers bounced back, defeating the host school, 8-6, in the second game, avenging the loss to Southwestern Illinois with a hard-fought 19-18 win before sweeping the Iowa Western Community College Reivers in a doubleheader, 21-8 and 7-4 to win the regionals.
As a result of their success with a 42-19 record up to that point, the Lakers earned a bid for the 2025 NJCAA World Series, which was held at Grand Junction, CO. The Lakers received the tournament’s ninth seed out of ten participating schools.
In the first game of the NJCAA World Series, the Lakers pulled off a monumental upset, defeated the defending champions, Blinn College Buccaneers, 17-9.
The Lakers used the momentum of the upset to defeat the Salt Lake Community College Bruins, 11-9 and Florence-Darlington Technical College Stingers, 20-8. It was the fifth game this season in which the Lakers scored at least 20 runs in a game.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. After the clock nearly struck midnight for the Lakers on several occasions during their magical run, their season came to a close with two consecutive losses to end their season.
The Lakers in the fourth round fell to the Walters State Community College Senators, 6-3, putting them in the elimination bracket before being demolished by Salt Lake Community College, 12-2 in a rematch.
Let’s hope the Lakers Baseball team will use the Cinderella-
type season from last year to propel them to their first ever NJCAA World Series title in team history.
