ENID, Okla. – Behind a career night from sophomore right-hander
Colton Smith, No. 8 Jones College opened the 2026 NJCAA Division II World Series with an emphatic 8-2 victory over No. 18 Frederick (Md.) Saturday evening at David Allen Memorial Ballpark.
Smith was dominant from the opening inning, striking out a career-high 11 batters across a complete-game effort to improve to 11-3 on the season. The sophomore scattered seven hits, walked three and needed 113 pitches to send the Bobcats into the winner's bracket.
Smith has logged five straight quality starts and thrown complete games in four of his last five.
Jones (41-16) will face Madison College (45-10) out of Wisconsin at 10 a.m. Sunday. The programs previously met in the 2011 World Series, with Jones claiming an 11-4 victory.
The Bobcats wasted little time giving Smith support Saturday.
Warren Hutchinson drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the first and later scored when Talan Theriot was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 1-0.
Smith settled in immediately after the early lead, retiring six of the next seven batters and striking out seven through the opening four innings.
Jones added to the advantage in the third when Chase Russell (14) launched a solo home run to left for a 2-0 lead. Later in the inning, a passed ball allowed Theriot to extend the margin to 3-0.
Frederick answered with its first run in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk by Casey Westerberg, but Smith stranded three runners by ending the inning with a strikeout.
The Bobcats responded again in the bottom half. Hutchinson walked and Russell singled to put runners at the corners before Sanders Ainsworth grounded out to score Hutchinson. Russell crossed on a wild pitch to stretch the lead to 5-1.
Smith continued to overpower Frederick down the stretch. He struck out the side in the eighth and retired eight of the final 10 batters he faced.
Russell paced Jones offensively with a 4-for-5 night that included a homer, double and three runs scored. Dylan Champagne added two hits, two runs and a stolen base, while Gage Reeves collected a pair of hits. Hutchinson reached base three times and scored twice.
The Bobcats added insurance in the eighth when Champagne doubled and later scored on Theriot's sacrifice fly for the final Jones run.
Westerberg's solo homer in the ninth accounted for Frederick's final run before Smith closed the door with his 11th strikeout and a game-ending groundout.
Jones finished with 12 hits and drew six walks in the victory.
The Bobcats improved to 10-3 all-time in Enid.
Sunday's game can be watched at NJCAA.org/network ($) and live stats are also available through the NJCAA website.
