CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – The CU baseball team will continue its stretch of seven-straight road games with their final three of the road swing as they continue their Mid-South Conference schedule against the Bears of University of Pikeville.
The series was moved from its normally scheduled single game on Friday to Sunday, keeping the doubleheader on Saturday as rain in Pikeville on Friday would have made the field tough to get ready for a nine inning game on Friday.
The Tigers are coming off of a 12-6 mid-week win over Indiana Southeast in their fourth meeting against the Grenadiers. CU recorded 16 hits in the game led by the 5-for-5 effort from shortstop
Tommy Sepulveda, which pushed the junior's batting average up to .322 on the season.
With the way the Campbellsville coaching staff has been constructing the lineup of late, there's a chance for at least six hitters with a batting average of .300 or better to be in the starting lineup. The other three spots in the order are likely to be filled with three of the top five RBI bats on the CU roster in
Tony Fonzo,
Donnel Bailey, and
Marco Murillo who all have 20 or more RBIs on the season.
The three projected starters for the Tigers,
Anthony Arias,
Tyler Deason and
Eric Little each had their own successes and troubles in their most recent starts against University of the Cumberlands. Arias had the longest outing in the series opener with a season-high in innings and pitches going 6.2 innings allowing six runs on seven hits and two walks with 11 strikeouts in 118 pitches.
Deason and Little each had shorter outings that didn't get to five innings as Little picked up the only win in Friday's game two with Deason being removed in the fifth of game three after allowing five runs. Both right handers threw an identical 68 pitches in their outings and should be rather fresh heading into this weekend.
UPike heads into the weekend at an even .500 with both their 16-16 overall record and their 3-3 MSC record. The Bears are coming off of a doubleheader sweep over Alice Lloyd College this past Tuesday and they took two of three against Lindsey Wilson in their most recent conference series.
At the plate, first baseman Jay Vincent is the leading hitter for Pikeville with a .362 batting average along with a team-leading five home runs and 36 RBIs. Vincent is also a hitter that will draw his walks at the plate with 24 on the season so far with an on base percentage nearing .500 at .493.
The Bears' pitching staff may be where some of the weakness lies as their team ERA nears seven at 6.94 through their 32 games so far. Their three pitchers that tie for the most starts on the year, Bruce Bell, Peyton Dove, and Brady Cappe all have an ERA over five with Bell being the leader of the three at 5.23.
After this weekend, the Tigers will begin a five-game homestand starting with a doubleheader against University of Rio Grande next Tuesday then a three-game series against Cumberland University at HIG Field on Friday and Saturday.
