BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — After sitting at Bowling Green Ball Park from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET, Mid-South Conference officials decided to postpone the opening round games of the MSC Tournament final site and contests are now scheduled to start at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday, May 6.
The Tigers, who won their eighth MSC Regular Season championship and are the one-seed in the tournament, are facing sixth-seeded University of Pikeville. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET and coverage starts on the CU Sports Network and MSC Sports Network at 9:45.
Bowling Green Ball Park, the home of the Bowling Green Hot Rods, Single-A Affiliate for the Tampa Bay Rays, is playing host to the tournament for the third-straight season.
The four-team, double-elimination final site of the MSC Baseball Tournament runs from Friday through Sunday.
The Tigers and Bears are starting the tournament on Saturday with another first-round matchup scheduled at 12:30 p.m. ET with two-seeded University of the Cumberlands meeting four-seeded Georgetown College. The two losing teams will play in an elimination game at 5 p.m. ET and the two winners are scheduled to play at 8:30 p.m. ET.
All games throughout the tournament will be streamed on the Mid-South Conference Sports Network and all Campbellsville games will air on the CU Sports Network at the links above.
Campbellsville (31-17) vs. UPIKE (26-22)
The Tigers had to win all three games at the University of the Cumberlands to win the regular season title and they did just that. CU is looking to repeat as tournament champions and earn the conference's automatic bid to the NAIA Opening Round for the second-straight season. But to do so, the Tigers are facing arguably the hottest team in the Mid-South.
Campbellsville is entering after winning a pair of regular season games over Midway University last weekend to end their schedule.
Brett Hamilton had him a week, hitting .625 at the plate and slugged 1.625. Hamilton finished the week with six RBIs, two runs scored, a double, two triples and a home run.
Leading CU on the year is
Clay Valenzuela-Reece's .331 batting average. Including Valenzuela-Reece, six of the Tigers main-nine position players are hitting above .300, while the other three are just a few percentage points under the century mark. The power bats in the lineup come fro
Romello Carbuccia, who has six home runs, but Hamilton has launched five, and has driven in a team-high 33 runs.
The pitching staff has been solid the last month of the regular season. First-Team All-MSC performer
Nick Przybylek has a 7-3 record and 3.53 ERA.
Indalecio Romo, a second-team performer, has come off Tommy John surgery and shined on the hill with a 4-1 record and 2.09 ERA. CU also has
DJ Wilson,
Dexter Cline,
Jared Welander,
Malik Evans and
Kirby Broadbent who has been solid.
CU's All-Conference performers –
DJ Wilson,
Nick Przybylek,
Indalecio Romo,
Matt Valdez,
Romello Carbuccia (First Team);
Riley Joyce,
David Montoya,
Carlos Garmendia and
Jared Welander (Second Team).
Gold Gloves:
Diego Reynoso (1B),
David Montoya (2B) and
Matthew Valdez (SS).
UPIKE is coming in after winning five of their last six games over Lindsey Wilson College. The Blue Raiders were tied with Campbellsville entering the final weekend of the regular season but the Bears pulled a major upset to sweep Lindsey Wilson and push them to the three-seed. With the UPIKE sweep, the Bears and Blue Raiders were matched up once again In the best-of-three opening round series for the MSC Tournament last week in Columbia and UPIKE overcame the odds to win the series and end Lindsey Wilson's season.
The Bears are led by Josh Bailey's .373 batting average and is the biggest threat on the base paths, stealing 23-of-31 bases. Anthony Roberts is the power bat in the lineup, hitting .358 with a team-high 11 home runs and 34 RBIs. Justin Beatty is also hitting .353 and has drove in 22 runs.
The Bears had a pair of starting pitchers who has started in a combined 24 games. Aaron Hedgecock is 6-1 on the year with a 3.69 ERA, while Dalton Dahley is 5-2 overall with a 4.74 ERA. In addition, Bryce Carden has nine starts under his belt but is 2-6 on the year. The sleeper for the UPIKE pitching staff is Bruce Bell. Bell, who has only four starts on the year, is coming off a complete-game shutout to clinch Pikeville's opening round series over Lindsey Wilson. In the 9-0 victory, he struck out seven batters and walked only one. The lights-out performance earned him Mid-South Conference Pitcher of the Week honors for the first time in his career.
UPIKE's All-Conference: Justin Beatty, Anthony Roberts, Josh Bailey, Dalton Dahley (First Team).
Gold Gloves: Justin Beatty (C), Josh Bailey (OF)
