COLUMBIA, Ky. – Following their second-straight Mid-South Conference tournament championship and 10
th overall, the Campbellsville University baseball team was selected as one of two teams to finish atop the MSC standings in 2020 as the conference released the preseason coaches' poll Wednesday morning.
The Tigers received 44 overall voting points and three first place votes, the exact same total received by University of the Cumberlands as the Patriots share the top spot with CU. Cumberlands won the regular season championship in the Mid-South Conference in 2019 after finishing with a 12-3 record in MSC play.
Campbellsville is returning an All-MSC performer in C/OF/DH
Adbiel Morales after hitting .323 with 28 RBIs and a team-high seven home runs in 2019 along with MSC Gold Glove winner
Cale Thompson and his double-play partner
Tommy Sepulveda at second base and short stop respectively.
The pitching staff will return five pitchers that saw significant time on the mound last season led by the tandem of
Jesse Davis and
Gage O'Brien in the back end of the bullpen. Both Davis and O'Brien appeared in over 20 games and pitched over 40 innings with multiple saves holding batters to hitting for under a .200 average.
Eric Little,
Aaron Hutchinson, and
Brenden Nipp also will return for their senior seasons as the only pitchers with more than two starts among the returners. Little was mainly in the weekend rotation with eight starts and 12 appearances, finishing with a 3.72 ERA.
The Tigers have either won a regular season or tournament championship inside the Mid-South Conference each of the last five seasons as they will look for their first regular season title since 2017. The last time CU won three-straight tournament championships was in the late 2000s when they won five-straight from 2005 to 2009.
| 2020 Mid-South Conference Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll |
| Pos. |
Team |
Points (First-Place Votes) |
2019 Record (MSC) |
| T-1. |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
44 (3) |
32-20 (11-7) |
| T-1. |
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
44 (3) |
46-10 (12-3) |
| 3. |
Georgetown (Ky.) |
40 (2) |
45-15 (13-5) |
| 4. |
Cumberland (Tenn.) |
32 |
34-23 (9-7) |
| 5. |
Pikeville (Ky.) |
22 |
24-27 (7-11) |
| 6. |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
20 |
8-34 (2-13) |
| 7. |
Shawnee State (Ohio) |
14 |
17-24 (6-12) |
| 8. |
Thomas More (Ky.) |
8 |
14-18-1 (N/A*) |
