Dr.ChristopherParker

President & CEO of the National Junior College Athletic Association Former VT Hokie, VCU Ram, LU Flame, & Duke Blue Devil. Let them see You in me! opinions mine

[NJCAA.ticker @NJCAAticker]

Top stories in today's NJCAA.ticker:

➤ Board of Regents recap: Sport eliminations, NJCAA budget, region commissioners & more
➤ @UnionOwls’ facility update
➤ Congressional check-in

Read more: https://t.co/cgeqSNZBC7

[NJCAA Soccer @NJCAA_Soccer]

The Road to Wichita Is Set!📍

The 12-team field is officially set for the 2026 DI Men’s #NJCAASoccer Championship, presented by @USAirForce! Who will take home the national title? 🏆

Championship Page ⤵️
https://t.co/b5xEnpAtpi

[NJCAA Football @NJCAAFootball]

🏈 FOUR TEAMS. ONE NATIONAL TITLE. 🏆

The #NJCAAFootball DI Semifinals presented by @usairforce are set!

The road to a national championship runs through these four teams. Who's bringing home the hardware?

Championship Page⤵️
https://t.co/qwRdd5YbDv

[NJCAA Soccer @NJCAA_Soccer]

The stage is set! ⚽️

The 2026 DII Men's #NJCAASoccer National Championship bracket is out! Play kicks off Sunday, November 15th in Huntsville, Alabama! 🏆🏆

https://t.co/RCzpXxLK4r

[NJCAA Soccer @NJCAA_Soccer]

🚨Updated Bracket🚨

The 2026 #NJCAASoccer DIII Men's National Championship game times have been updated.

[Dr.ChristopherParker @NJCAA_Exec]

Thanks to all of the awesome @CollSportsComm across the country!

[NJCAA @NJCAA]

Happy College Sports Communicators Week!

This week, the NJCAA joins @CollSportsComm in celebrating professionals in college sports. From broadcast to public relations and everything in between, we thank you for your commitment to bringing the world of college sports to life!

[NJCAA Volleyball @NJCAAVolleyball]

🏆 The Field is set!

The 2026 #NJCAAVB DIII Championship field has officially been announced!

1⃣6⃣ team will travel to Glen Ellyn, IL and one will walk away as the National Champion!

[Dr.ChristopherParker @NJCAA_Exec]

This my yearly post that “College Basketball” tipped off Friday with @NJCAABasketball action underway! Yes, NCAA basketball begins today, but everyone who says “college basketball” begins today, you are probably just unaware! Follow @NJCAABasketball for all the exciting action!

[NJCAA.ticker @NJCAAticker]

Top stories in today's NJCAA.ticker:

➤ @DSCFalconSports AD Alison Mohr on success & leadership lessons
➤ @PVCCPumas AD Christina Hundley talks committee service
➤ @NWACCathletics growth
➤ Enrollment trends

Read about these stories & more: https://t.co/6wt5VSoFfC

[Dr.ChristopherParker @NJCAA_Exec]

College basketball season officially begins!!!! @NJCAABasketball will be exciting all season long!

[Dr.ChristopherParker @NJCAA_Exec]

@NJCAABaseball makes em great!

[FOX Sports: MLB @MLBONFOX]

Milwaukee @Brewers pitcher Aaron Ashby finished the 2026 Postseason with a 0.00 ERA!

[Dr.ChristopherParker @NJCAA_Exec]

Good group of HS seniors this am!

[NJCAA @NJCAA]

The NJCAA is well-represented in this year’s Fall Classic!

Numerous former NJCAA baseball players are playing and coaching in the 2026 World Series for both the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays.

Read more⤵️
https://t.co/SJ8oee4e8d

[the Sports ON Tap @thesportsontap]

A scout drove out to a junior college in Missouri to watch him throw, and he walked eight batters in a row.

That is the story everybody tells. Somebody brought it up again this month and he corrected them.

It was nine.

They drafted him anyway. Fourth round, 2018.

Aaron Ashby is from Kansas City, Missouri, out of Park Hill High School. His uncle Andy pitched fourteen seasons in the big leagues and made two All-Star teams.

The Texas Rangers had taken him the year before that, in the 25th round, 764th overall. He turned it down and went back to the junior college.

His first big league appearance was two thirds of an inning and four earned runs.

Two seasons later he went 2 and 10 as a starter. Milwaukee signed him to a five year extension anyway, and then his shoulder went.

Arthroscopic surgery. He lost all of 2023. He says he has never gotten the slider he had in college back, not once, not all the way.

Then 2024 at Triple-A Nashville, a 8.04 ERA across 25 games. That is the number teams look at when they decide somebody is finished.

In August of that year, still in Nashville, he started messing with a knuckle-curve. He was in Milwaukee about a week later.

Last season he put up a 2.16 out of the bullpen. This season he went 13 and 3.

And then October started and he just stopped giving up runs.

Fifteen and two thirds scoreless innings to open this postseason. Five hits. Three walks. Seventeen strikeouts. He has pitched in eight of the Milwaukee Brewers ten playoff games and every single one at home.

He is one out away from the record. Andrew Miller went sixteen scoreless to start the 2016 postseason and nobody has matched it. Ashby passed Goose Gossage and Andy Hawkins to get here.

Pat Murphy watched him get a five out save in Game 2 Saturday and called it Goose Gossage-like.

He is also the first pitcher in the history of the postseason to record at least five outs in six straight appearances without allowing a run in any of them.

The pitch doing it is the curveball he was not supposed to have. Miguel Sano hit the fifth curveball he ever threw in the big leagues over the wall, back in August 2021.

He has thrown 1,045 of them since. Not one has left the yard.

They asked him how he stays that calm with the tying run on second in the ninth.

"It's a lot of breathing."

"Just kind of praying for peace, I guess."

Be straight about where this sits. Milwaukee is up 2-0 but the next three are in Tampa Bay, the Rays won 94 games, and nobody finishes a postseason at 0.00.

But a kid walked nine straight hitters with a scout in the stands, and a week from now he might own the record for the best October any bullpen arm has ever had.

[Next Level Baseball @nextlevelbb]

Junior College Baseball and the World Series.
Jacob Misiorowski-Brewers-Crowder College
Aaron Ashby-Brewers-Crowder College
Logan Henderson-Brewers-McLennan Community College
Robert Gasser-Brewers-San Joaquin Delta College
JoJo Romero-Brewers-Yavapai College
Cam Booser-Rays-Central Arizona College

The Brewers have the best scouting staff in baseball and it is really not arguable.

A lot of teams are lost when it comes to evaluating and drafting Juco players because of inexperienced scouts that need data and tech to evaluate for them.

I have heard a lot of talk about providing junior colleges with technology. I have a profound idea that could be impactful. Hire experienced scouts that have enough moxie and feel to not require it when evaluating players. They can use their eyes and ears.

Real scouts know how to evaluate junior college players.

[Dr.ChristopherParker @NJCAA_Exec]

Always a great time talking @NJCAA with @CCTrustees with @DrMcM @StacyKlippenst1 @DanKinney10

[Dr.ChristopherParker @NJCAA_Exec]

Great presentation by @NWACC on the benefits of @NJCAA athletics here @CCTrustees

[Dr.ChristopherParker @NJCAA_Exec]

Congrats coach! https://t.co/qTrYalQyMC

[College Baseball Insights @InsightsCollege]

🚨First look at the real JUCO number, and it's bigger than most people probably assume: across 212 D1 programs with full rosters live, incoming classes split roughly three ways —

→ 37.7% non-transfer additions
→ 35.4% four-year transfers
→ 26.9% JUCO transfers

Of transfers alone, that's 43% JUCO — not far off half.

Every D1 program with a full roster live now has a complete JUCO breakdown.

Kansas leans hardest on it — 19 of 24 incoming players (79%) came via JUCO. At the other end, 23 programs added no JUCO players at all, including Tennessee: 24 incoming players, 11 transfers, every one from a four-year school.

Subscribers get the full JUCO-vs-4-year breakdown for every D1 program.

👇See where every program stands for 2027: (tablet/laptop)
👉Drill down on North Carolina

https://t.co/ELoRS3NoDU

#ncaad1rosters
#collegebaseball
#uncommitted
#collegebaseballresearch
#collegebaseballrecruiting

[NJCAA.ticker @NJCAAticker]

Top stories in today's NJCAA.ticker:

➤ @NJCAA’s Student Success Data Project
➤ Facility Features: @CCCCsports, @mohavecc & @PSCCPanthers
➤ New sports at @NPCCKnights & @NECCKNIGHTS
➤ Minnesota funding challenges

Read more: https://t.co/UGKpw91Sbo