Monroe College is heating up at the right time for the JUCO World Series

Monroe is back for the second straight year. This is only their second appearance in the World Series and they are the first team from New York to compete in the JUCO World Series since Briarcliffe in 2000.

This team brings back six sophomores with experience from last season. The Mustangs had a rough start to their season, losing eight games in a row. But coach Luis Melendez helped his team flip the switch with some scrimmages.

"It was hard," said Joe Rosselli. "Everyone was down. Practices weren't the same. It wasn't the same energy that we knew we had. We knew we were a better team than we were showing and it just wasn't hitting off on the field. We had to work really hard to get through that and stay together as a team."

"We put these kids in front of the best caliber of baseball accessible at the time," said head coach Luis Melendez. "We said, hey, see this level of play? This is where we need to be in May if you want to go back to Colorado. It proved to be beneficial and they always reference that trip when things were starting to turn around. We're running on all cylinders and the boys are ready to play and I think they are going to play at a competitive level."