How this KC metro baseball team rode historic home run binge to JUCO World Series
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Johnson County CC rode a 41-game win streak and entered the World Series 63-3.
- JCCC hit 204 homers, the most by any college team, topping LSU's 188.
- Ryan Bradford has 41 homers, a 41-game hit streak and is hitting .451.
College baseball hasn’t seen a season quite like the one that the Johnson County Community College team has put together in 2026.
The junior-college Cavaliers — the No. 1 overall seed in the NJCAA Division I World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado — are riding a 41-game winning streak and boast the nation’s best record at 63-3.
These monumental feats bear repeating.
A 41-game win streak.
Just three losses in 66 games.
Four straight Region 6/Plains District championships and a spot in the 2026 juco World Series.
The Cavaliers absolutely rake at the plate. Translation: They hit lots of home runs, in historic quantities. They’ve smashed 204 home runs this season, breaking the NJCAA single-season record.
Moreover, that’s the most by a college baseball team at any level, ever. The previous all-time college record was 188, set by LSU in 1997.
JCCC ranks second in junior-college batting average (.393) and leads the country in hits (807), runs (813), RBIs (725), extra-base hits (392), slugging percentage (.801) and total bases (1,645).
The Cavaliers can also pitch, with four undefeated starters featuring a combined 47 wins and 348 strikeouts. The JCCC pitching staff as a whole is one of the best in the county, ranking fifth among all jucos with a 4.37 ERA and fifth with a .242 opponent’s batting average.
The Cavaliers’ roster features several Power 5 commitments, led by the newly crowned college home run king: Ryan Bradford. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound outfielder leads off and has hit 41 homers — one of just five players across all of college baseball history to collect 40 in a season.
The East Kansas Jayhawk Conference Freshman of the Year had his own 41-game hitting streak and is currently batting .451 with 111 RBIs and a 1.090 slugging percentage. A native of Imperial, Missouri, he is committed to TCU.
Six other Cavaliers boast double-digit homers. West Virginia signee Colin Coonradt ranks third in the nation this year with 35.
The architect of this powerful season for the ages is sixth-year head coach Eric Horner, who has been with the program for 23 years. The Cavaliers have won at least 40 games in each of Horner’s five seasons at the helm, including more than 50 in each of the past three seasons. A World Series berth resulted each time.
JCCC will face No. 10 seed Harford Community College (54-6) to open the tournament on Saturday, May 23 at 1 p.m. Central Time.
