Wes Borba
wesbaseball
Wes Borba
The 73rd Annual National Baseball Congress World Series will be held in Wichita, Kansas on July 29 through August 12. Billed as the "Summer Baseball National Championship," teams qualify for the World Series through play in 17 regional tournaments in 11 states. This blog will follow the Santa Maria (CA) Indians, and particularly Wes Borba and JJ Jelmini.
This summer, Wes and JJ played for the Clovis Outlaws, a first-year team in the California Collegiate League. The Santa Maria Indians, another team in the CCL, won the regional tournament that Clovis played, and shortly after the regional tournament Wes and JJ were asked by Santa Maria to play on their team in the NBC World Series.
There are 42 teams are in the World Series. It is a double-elimination tournament. Bracket-play will be Sunday, July 29 through Thursday, Aug 9, and quarter-, semi- and finals games will be on Aug 10-12. There is a bit of a playful atmosphere to the 2-week event. Besides, the usual give-away, ladies, and bingo nights, there is the compulsory "Beer-for-a-Buck" night (Thurs, Aug 9) and a "17 games in 56 hours" marathon starting at 5pm Friday, August 3 and running through August 5 (including games at 8am on Sat and Sun, as well as 12:30am Fri and Sat night). (Imagine drinking beer on Fri and Sat night followed by Bible study on Sunday all at the same location.)
Weather is expected to generally be clear with the occasional thunderstorm. Highs in the low 90s and lows around 70. Californians will consider this "not bad," but that is before we discuss humidity. Although play does not begin for a few days, in the meantime some background on Wes and JJ and their team and the CCL will be provided.