BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — For the eighth time in program history, Campbellsville University baseball is the Mid-South Conference Tournament champions.
The Tigers (36-15) won in style over Lindsey Wilson, 10-2, to claim their first title since 2009 and earn the conference's automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round. CU also won the tournament titles in 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Box Score
Campbellsville, which was short handed in the bullpen, used
Dexter Cline and
Nelson Quark to stymie Lindsey Wilson College with only five hits.
Mario Morales came on to pitch in the ninth and struck out the side.
Cline, a junior making the start in his hometown of Bowling Green, started on the mound and went 3.2 innings allowing four hits and two runs (one earned) before giving way to Quark. In the fourth, with CU leading 3-2, Lindsey Wilson had bases loaded but Quark got out of the jam with a ground ball to
Cody Erickson at shortstop to end the final Blue Raider rally.
Quark (2-2) tossed 4.1 innings in relief to pick up the win and struck out three. Morales relived him in the ninth to get an innings worth of work.
The Tigers offense, which came into the game hitting .403 in the four tournament games, flexed their muscles in a big way. Campbellsville scratched out 17 hits with eight of those coming in the seven-run sixth inning and finished hitting 17-for-38 as a team (.447).
Nestor Linares,
Miguel Solano and
Riley Joyce led CU with three hits a piece while Linares was a home run away from hitting for the cycle. Solano and Joyce had three singles a piece.
Diego Reynoso and
Cameron Ketchen also had a pair of hits.
LWC (37-22) struck first with a sac fly in the opening inning but CU came right back with a trio of runs in the second. Joyce singled to start the rally then
Richard Ramirez picked up a one-out walk. After a single by Reynoso to load the bases, Linares cleared them with a three-run double.
Linares finished the tournament (opening round included) going 11-for-23 with 11 RBI.
In the sixth, the flood gates opened on reliever Daniel Ferrell. A leadoff single by Solano led to an eight-hit seven-run inning to put the game out of reach. CU brought 12 batters to plate and had RBIs by
Romello Carbuccia,
Casey Scott, Ketchen, Erickson, Joyce and Solano.
Lindsey Wilson, which was also short-handed with its pitching staff, started closer James Doubet but he picked up his fifth loss on the season (3-5). The Blue Raiders tossed out five pitchers – three of them in the sixth - and Campbellsville scored runs off all but Brandon Reynolds. Reynolds sat the Tigers down 1-2-3 in the seventh inning, which was just the third time CU went down in order in the two games against LWC this tournament.
Campbellsville now will await its fate in the NAIA Opening Round as qualifiers are announced on Friday afternoon. Fans can tune into
www.NAIANetwork.com for the selection show but a time is TBA.
For complete information, follow the Tigers on Twitter - @CvilleTigers and @CTigersBaseball and also www.CampbellsvilleTigers.com
