Former local standouts Fred Franklin, Mason Irby and Will Brand helped lead Jones County Junior College to a NJCAA Division II World Series championship as the Bobcats defeated Arizona’s GateWay Community College 7-1 last Saturday in Enid, Okla.

After dropping its May 30 contest 11-9 to GateWay, JCJC outscored the Geckos 18-4 in the final two games en route to capturing the title.

Irby, who went to Southeast Lauderdale High School, launched a two-out, fifth-inning home run in the game to give the Bobcats a 4-0 lead. The sophomore finished 2-for-5 at the plate to go along with two RBIs and a stolen base.

“It was incredible, because Tanner (Huddleston) had just hit a home run earlier in the inning, and we were trying to get something going offensively, and I hit one and the adrenaline was pumping,” Irby said. “It was at that point that I started to think we might actually win the national championship. I’m still kind of soaking it all in right now. I don’t think it has set in for any of us that we just won the national championship.”

While Irby helped carry JCJC offensively, West Lauderdale High School alumnus Fred Franklin’s defense earned the freshman Defensive Player of the Tournament honors. He also added a hit, a walk and a stolen base Saturday.

“It’s amazing to win something big like that in the World Series, and to be noticed as the best defensive player in the World Series,” Franklin said of his award. “It’s awesome.”

The national championship is JCJC’s first-ever, and Bobcats supporters showed up to welcome the team, which arrived at the Ellisville campus escorted by 12 vehicle police vehicles.

“I felt like a superstar,” Franklin said. “It felt great. I thought, ‘All this for us?’ It was pretty crazy.”

While Franklin will return to JCJC next season, Irby is headed to Hattiesburg, where he will play for Southern Mississippi.

“It been an incredible ride,” Irby said. “It was awesome to look and see how much support we were getting, and it kind of puts in perspective how much this means. All of us have been getting messages and phone calls from everyone letting us know that they were keeping up with us, and congratulating us.”

Former Newton County standout Will Brand also played a big part in the Series win for the Bobcats. Brand, the team’s closer since division play started, came on in the semifinal contest against Sinclair and pitched the final 3 1/3 innings. Brand is in his third year with the Bobcats after being red-shirted his freshman season after Tommy John surgery.

“We thought after we beat LSU-Eunice that we had a chance to win the whole thing,” Brand said. “Our offense was really swining the bat well, we outscored people something like 65-23. We averaged about 10 runs a game and that makes the pitcher’s job easy when they do that.”