While on their way to Tucson for the annual Jack Howell Classic baseball tournament on March 16, the Geckos were met with some extremely exciting news. The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) had released its preseason rankings that day for Division II Baseball and the GateWay Community College Geckos were ranked 7th nationally!  Only trailing two rankings behind Arizona rival Paradise Valley Community College, the Geckos have a record of 23 wins and only 10 losses for the season so far and are ranked 1st in the ACCAC.

          The team was so motivated by the news of their ranking, they dominated at the Tucson baseball tournament that weekend, winning four of the six games. Their only two losses were narrow—by one run against Western Texas and by two runs against Odessa Junior College—however, their four wins were impressive. The Geckos shut out Pro Train White and Williston State winning 14-0 and 5-0 respectively. An intense game against Hill College resulted in a 7-6 victory for the Geckos, followed by a 21-2 domination over the White Rock Tritons.   At the end of the weekend, GateWay racked up a total of 54 runs while only being scored against 18 times.  

          Nineteen-year-old outfielder Alex Villar said he was honored by the ranking and excited that the Geckos were making a name for themselves. He attributes the team’s success to how hard they work and how focused they stay during practices.

          “At practice, everyone pushes each other to get better every day,” Villar said. “If we see something going wrong, then we do everything to help fix it. We’re really more of a family than a team.”

          He added that the Geckos are looking to get 40 wins, take first in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC) and earn a trip to the Junior College World Series (JUCO).

          Second baseman Michael Bregante is also confident that the hard work will pay off.

          “It took a lot of hard work to get where we are,” Bregante said, “but we have to keep it up because people are gunning for us, especially because we are ranked No. 1 in the conference, only a half game behind Paradise Valley.”

          The Geckos have a home game against South Mountain Community College this Saturday before coming up against nationally ranked Paradise Valley Community College on April 1 and 2. Home games are played at Gene Autry Park in Mesa, Ariz. Their full schedule can be found at www.gatewaycc.edu/athletics.

          To check out pictures from the Jack Howell Classic tournament March 16-19, go to www.picasaweb.google.com/gatewaygeckos.