WICHITA – The Hays Larks now know who and when they will play at the 82nd National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita. The Jayhawk League champions will open pool play Friday night at 7 pm against the Hutchinson (KS) Monarchs. They will face the San Diego (CA) Waves at 7 pm Sunday then close out pool play Tuesday at 4:30 pm against the Northwest (WA) Honkers.
The Larks (37-10) won both the first and second half Jayhawk League titles then clinched their ninth Jayhawk League championship with a sweep of Dodge City in the best of three Jayhawk League Championship Series. They are making their fifth World Series appearance in six years and their 14th since 2000.
The NBC has changed their format for the 2016 tournament. Instead of a 16-team double-elimination tournament in both the first and championship weeks, pool play will be utilized. Four, four-team pools will play three games each with the pool winners advancing to the semifinals in the First Week. The first and second place teams advance to the quarterfinals during Championship Week where they meet for single elimination bracket play.
THE OPPONENTS
The Monarchs (38-12) won both the Kansas Collegiate League Baseball regular season and tournament titles. This is their second straight NBC World Series appearance after a 1-2 finish last year. They beat the Larks 2013 NBC WS 3-1 and lost to Hays 11-1 in the 2012 tournament.
The San Diego Waves are making their 11th straight NBC World Series appearance. They went 2-2 finished seventh in last year’s tournament and went 1-2 against the Jayhawk League. They’re best finish came in 2001 when they were third. The finished fourth in 2011, losing to the Larks in the quarterfinals. This will be the fifth time they’ve played the Larks at the NBC WS, losing the previous four with the most recent in 2014.
The Northwest (WA) Honkers (33-19) are making their fourth NBC World Series appearance in seven years and their second straight. They went 0-2 in last year’s tournament. The Honkers qualified after a second place finish in the Pacific International League, 3 1/2 games behind defending NBC World Series champion Seattle/Cheney Studs.