OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Following the most successful season in Johnson County Community College baseball history, on the second-best in Kansas Jayhawk Conference history, Cavaliers head coach Eric Horner was recently named the NJCAA D-I Central District Coach of the Year by American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and ATEC. Earlier this year he was named the Kansas Jayhawk Conference East Division Coach of the Year.
This past season, the Cavaliers reached the NJCAA D-I World Series for the third time in program history and the first since 2014. JCCC went 56-10, including a 30-3 mark in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference East Division to capture the program's 11th title. Their 56 wins set a new team mark and tie the second most in Kansas Jayhawk Conference history.
Fourteen Cavaliers were named All-KJCCC East Division, including conference Pitcher of the Year Luc Fladda and Co-Freshman of the Year Dagen Brewer. Fladda was also named National Junior College Athletic Association and American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings second-team All-American.
Johnson County finished second in the country with a .364 team batting average, fourth with a .466 on-base percentage, and sixth with 597 runs scored. As a team, the Cavaliers drew nearly as many walks (336) as they had strikeouts (346). On the mound, JCCC's 3.80 ERA ranked eighth nationally, piling up 601 strikeouts to finish fourth in the country. The Cavaliers team fielding percentage of .976 was the second-best mark in NJCAA Division 1.
Through three seasons at the helm, Horner has compiled a 145-37 record for a .797 winning percentage. His 145 wins are the most by any coach in Kansas Jayhawk Conference history through their first three seasons. All three years his teams opened the season ranked among the top-20 in the country, and this year they closed out the final rankings as the No. 2 team in the country.
Horner has als0 produced 32 Kansas Jayhawk Conference performers, nine All-Region VI selections, one NJCAA and ABCA/Rawlings All-American, two Region 6 Rawlings Gold Glove Award® winners including Jeremy Rader, the 2023 ABCA/Rawlings NJCAA D-I Gold Glove Award® winner at third base. He also produced one College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District® selection and 28 players have earned NJCAA All-Academic recognition. He also has helped place 55 players in four-year programs, including 22 at the NCAA D-I level.