CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Even though it falls early in the Mid-South Conference schedule, the Tiger baseball team will start arguably their biggest MSC series of the season this Friday as they head to Williamsburg, Ky. to face the No. 11 team in the NAIA Coaches' Poll in University of the Cumberlands.
The standard Mid-South Conference series schedule of one game on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday was adjusted for play the doubleheader on Friday and a single game on Saturday. The treat of rain on Saturday forced both coaches to move the games to a 2 p.m. ET start on Friday's twin bill and a noon ET start on Saturday.
Both the Patriots and the Tigers sit at the top of the conference standings after both opened up the MSC schedule with a sweep over Shawnee State. Last weekend the Tigers' three wins over all came by six or more runs and two weeks ago, Cumberlands won the first two games 15-1 and 12-2 against the Bears before closing out the series with a 1-0 shutout win.
Cumberlands went on the road last weekend to Georgetown as the Patriots took two of three from the Tigers. Most recently they won their three mid-week games against University of Cincinnati-Clermont and Alice Lloyd College.
Campbellsville has won eight of their last nine games bookended by run-rule wins against Brescia University. Wednesday's win over Brescia was highlighted by a stellar pitching performance from
Marco Murillo and a five-run seventh inning to clinch the 11-1 win.
The Tigers' offense has been strong as of late, averaging 17 runs over their last eight wins, scoring eight or more runs in those wins. The 2-3-4 combination of
Austin Peterson,
Tyler Deason, and
Bryson Wallet are all hitting .394 or better with big power numbers as well with slugging percentages over .660.
CU's rotation will see
Anthony Arias,
Tyler Deason and
Eric Little start on the mound in the three games against the Patriots. Arias and Deason are around a similar ERA at 3.34 for Arias and 3.38 for Deason with Little also under four with his 3.77 ERA.
The Tigers' bullpen has been outstanding as of late with five pitchers,
Jesse Davis (3.00),
Brenden Nipp (2.84), Murillo (2.55),
Gage O'Brien (2.55) and
Malcom Grady (1.25) all with an ERA at or under 3.00 with 17.2 innings pitcher or more.
The trip is the beginning of seven-straight road games for the baseball team. After the weekend series the Tigers will go to New Albany, Ind. to play Indiana University Southeast for the fourth time this season followed by their second-straight MSC road series at University of Pikeville next week.
