The postgame fireworks, launched in celebration of Memorial Day, weren’t the only explosives on display at Suplizio Field Monday. Top-ranked Walters College (Tennessee) did plenty of damage with their bats en route to a 13-5 win over McLennan Community College (Texas) in the marquee Monday night matchup of this year’s Alpine Bank Junior College World Series.

The Senators, who entered Monday’s contest 56-6-1 on the season and ranked as both the No. 1 team in the nation and No. 1 seed in the tournament, took a little while to find their footing in Monday’s contest. After digging themselves a 4-1 hole early, they were able to find some momentum in the bottom of the fourth inning.

“We just battled and fought,” Walters State head coach David Shelton said. “What a job our hitters did top to bottom. Just battling and fighting... They did a great job.”

After McLennan starter Logan Harris was chased from the ballgame, righthander Mason Cook took over on the mound for the Highlanders. The freshman’s command was less than superb, and Walters State took advantage immediately. The first five batters to face Cook in the fourth inning all reached base safely, four via hit and one via error. The Senators had crossed the plate four times before an out was recorded in the fourth to grab the lead, and later added an unearned run to make it five in the inning.

Walters State’s bats would stay hot as they tacked on five more runs in the following three innings to put an exclamation point on a dominant showing for the nation’s top team. The Senators compiled 16 total hits, including a game-high four from third baseman Holden Pantier, a Colorado native.

“I got to come out (to the World Series) when I was 11 or 12 years old, and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world,” Pantier said. “So it’s kind of special, it’s kind of a full circle moment, seeing those little kids in the stands knowing that was me not too long ago. It’s been a really neat opportunity, and I think that makes it a little bit more special for me, being on the other side of it and now being able to play in these games. I’ve really been enjoying the moment.”

The Erie product’s most exciting play of the night took the form of a little-league home run in the sixth inning.

The Walters State third baseman drove a groundball hard to his defensive counterpart, McLennan’s Cage McCloud. The Highlander infielder fielded the ball cleanly but made an errant throw across the diamond which first baseman McClane Helton could not handle. Helton chased the ball down the first base line and into the Highlander bullpen, at which point Pantier had already rounded second and was heading for third. McClane unleashed a violent throw to try and nail Pantier at the base, but there were no Highlander defenders in the area, and McClane’s throw sailed into the Senator dugout. Pantier was awarded home plate after the ball left play, completing his unusual trip around the bases.

“When they threw that ball away, I went to second base, I saw no one at third, I was running. Coach Shelton said keep on running, I was like ‘I don’t know how much further I can run but we’ll see where my legs take me,’” Pantier said on the play.

McLennan committed an unsightly seven errors defensively in Monday’s contest, which allowed Walters State to score six of their 13 runs unearned.

“The nerves were definitely present tonight,” McLennan head coach Tyler Johnson said. “You could really see it. It was Cage (McClane)’s first game over there at third base, coming off a suspension, and you could definitely tell the environment effected not just him but everybody around him as well.”

On the mound, Senators starter Aidan Robertson was effective throughout his start. The Virginia Tech commit displayed durability in tossing 116 pitches across six innings in the winning effort.

“I was really thinking about pulling him out in the fourth inning ,” Shelton said. “I kind of felt like he was probably ready to fight me if I did that. You know, in my younger days, I know I could have taken him, but I strained my back a little bit lifting the laundry bag yesterday, so really I was iffy on it, so I let him go back out for a couple more innings. He did a tremendous job.”

“If he’s got a hurt back I’m taking me (in a fight). Every day of the week,” Robertson said.

A near-capacity crowd of 11,808 attended Monday’s World Series contest, which was flanked on either side by a pregame ceremony featuring a helicopter landing in center field and the ceremonial release of several white doves, and the aforementioned fireworks postgame.

“That was the biggest crowd I’ve played in front of ever in my life,” Robertson said. “I don’t think I’ve played in front of more than 500 people in my life, to be honest with you. Games at Walters State attract 200 people, maybe.”

“Yeah, for sure the most I’ve played in front of, without a doubt, by far,” Pantier added.

With the win, the Senators improved to 2-0 in this year’s World Series. They advance to Wednesday, where they await the winner of Tuesday’s evening matchup between 2-0 Lake Land and 1-0 Florence-Darlington.

McLennan, meanwhile, now must face defending champion Blinn College in an elimination game Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Last season’s JUCO World Series champions, the Blinn College Buccaneers, extended their stay in Grand Junction by at least another night thanks to a 10-4 win over Johnson County Monday.

The Buccaneers scored a pair of runs in each of the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings to overcome the fourth-ranked Cavaliers, who were making their third consecutive World Series appearance.

Blinn sophomore Ethan Johnson continued his hot streak with a pair of hits Monday, bringing his World Series total to 11. The Wichita State commit crossed the 15 at-bat threshold in his third game of this tournament, which officially qualifies him for the JUCO World Series record books. With a tournament line of 11 hits in 15 at bats, Johnson would posses the highest batting average in JUCO World Series history, .733, if the tournament were to end today. The current record is .668, held by four different individually, most notably Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett.