What a difference a year makes.

Last year, Shelton State (Ala.) Community College made its first appearance in the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series and it was easy to tell the Bucs hadn’t been here before.

“The first few games we were in awe of everything,” sophomore catcher Clay Jones said. “The crowd, the atmosphere, we were in awe of it all.”

Although the Bucs did win two games in 2007, they were defeated by Spartanburg Methodist twice and sent packing on the fourth day of the tournament.

With Shelton’s 10-2 victory over Iowa Western on Monday, the Bucs have cruised into today’s game against Grayson County.

“I think our pitchers have done a great job of keeping us in games,” Shelton coach Bobby Sprowl said as Monday’s fireworks were exploding in the background. “I have told our hitters to relax and we have had enough position guys play well where we have a chance to win.”

But for Jones, the entire season has rested upon making it to this point. The Bucs had a tough road out of the Alabama Junior College state tournament, but have made it to Grand Junction and have been playing well.

“The underclassmen have heard us all year saying we have to get back to Grand Junction,” Jones said. “I guess they got sick of hearing it and we made it out here.”

Jones said this season’s bumpy road, along with last year’s experience in the tournament, helped prepare the Bucs for the pressure of a night game in the World Series.

“We have had to battle back all year and I think we have learned that we can’t get too high emotionally in a game,” Jones said. “Coach Sprowl told us earlier in the week that we had to win our first game so we could make it to the Monday game, because it is the biggest crowd and the fireworks show. Even with that, I don’t think the crowd affected us as bad this year.”

Jones has yet to be thrown off by the crowds in Grand Junction. Last year he was selected to the all-tournament team after hitting .588 and hitting 10 doubles in four games. Although the individual accolade was nice, Jones didn’t like falling short of winning a championship.

“I feel like if we hadn’t made it back this year, the season would have been a failure,” Jones said.

Now that Jones has avoided failure and made it back, he is playing well. Defensively, Jones has switched from first base to catcher and been a main component for the Bucs’ success at his post behind the plate. The Shelton pitchers have allowed only six runs in two games and have struck out 14 batters.

“Clay and (shortstop Justin) Bussey and have done it for us day in and day out,” Sprowl said. “They will always give us a chance.”

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E-mail Patrick Bahr at pbahr@gjds.com.