Two goals down, one to go for San Jacinto College.

The San Jac baseball team breezed through the regular season to capture the Region XIV South title and followed that up by winning four games in four days at the regional tournament to earn the program's 21st appearance in the Junior College World Series.

The Gators' third Region XIV championship in the past four years has them headed back to Grand Junction, Colo., where they'll try to capture the national title that has eluded the program since 1990.

San Jac coach Tom Arrington has led his squads to seven World Series appearances in 10 seasons, including a third-place finish at last year's tournament.

But the top-ranked Gators (48-10) have an abundance of something last year's squad didn't seem to have enough of: pitching.

"Most notable would be the success that our pitching staff has had, with one of the lowest ERAs in the nation," said Arrington, who is trying to win his first national title and the program's sixth. "It's just tremendous."

When the Gators open the World Series against third-ranked State College of Florida (37-13) at noon May 29, they'll have their choice of aces to send to the mound. Miguel Peña (13-1, 1.96 ERA) and Sean Nolin (11-0, 2.02) have headlined the rotation and will start the first two games of the double-elimination tournament. Chris McKenzie (7-1, 2.27) anchors the rotation, and Clay Schrader (1-0, 2.70, 11 saves) has been San Jac's closer.

San Jac's staff carries a superb ERA of 2.47. When combined with the team's .316 batting average - which includes the production of sophomore outfielder Riley Hornback (.358, four homers, 53 RBIs) - it's easy to see why the Gators ended the conference season on a 22-game winning streak.

They clinched the Region XIV South title April 21. Arrington said from then on the team seemed to be locked in on the goal of winning a national championship.

"The whole atmosphere kind of changed at that point to (the players) saying, 'Man, let's go all the way with this. We've put in so much hard work, and now it's time for us to kick it up another level,'  " Arrington said. "And I've seen that transformation over the past month of their playing.

"They identify it, they look forward to it, they feel very confident about their abilities, and they're excited."

San Jac's World Series games can be heard live online at tsrnsports.com.