CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Entering 2020 as the two-time defending Mid-South Conference Tournament champions and the No. 25 team in the NAIA Preseason Coaches' Poll, the Campbellsville University baseball team is about a week away from the start of the season.
Campbellsville's 55-game schedule includes 34 games at HIG Field, 19 road games and a pair of neutral site games. CU will also face off against five teams that are also in the preseason poll for 11 of their 55 games this season.
Those neutral site games will get out of the way in the very first two days of the season when the Tigers travel to Mobile, Ala. for four games in two days, two road games against No. 24 University of Mobile and the neutral games against Talladega College on Feb. 7 and 8.
The following weekend, CU will head to West Point, Ga. for a three-game series against Point University on Feb. 14-15 that will precede Tigers' home opener. That home opener will be on Tuesday, Feb. 18 when Campbellsville plays host to Midway University for a single game at 2:30 p.m. ET at HIG Field.
The next six games will be part of three doubleheaders in four days when they host Siena Heights University for a four-game series on Feb. 22-23 then they travel to Pulaski, Tenn. for a Tuesday doubleheader against Martin Methodist College on Feb. 25.
After the road doubleheader, the Tigers will begin a 16-game homestand starting on Feb. 28 and ending on Mar. 17 that will include 10 non-conference games and Campbellsville's first two Mid-South Conference series. The homestand will begin with a four-game series against Madonna University, who knocked CU out of the NAIA Opening Round last season, on Feb. 28-29 and Mar. 1.
MSC foes University of the Cumberlands and University of Pikeville will be the first two series of the conference schedule as the No. 11 Patriots come to HIG Field on Mar. 6-7 and the Bears visiting Campbellsville the next weekend of Mar. 13-14. Both Cumberlands and Pikeville earned series wins over the Tigers last season by taking two of three games.
The rest of the MSC schedule for CU will consist of road series against Shawnee State University, Georgetown College, and Cumberland University as the Tigers won six of their nine total games against those three teams last season. Campbellsville will host Thomas More University and Lindsey Wilson at home as the Saints enter the NAIA ranks from NCAA Division III.
In the midst of conference play, the Tigers will host a pair of top-25 teams at HIG Field as preseason No. 1 Tennessee Wesleyan University and No. 18 Bryan College will each play mid-week doubleheaders against CU. The Bulldogs of TWU are the defending NAIA National Champions as the Tigers faced off in a doubleheader last season as well as getting selected in the same NAIA Opening Round location but never facing off in the postseason in 2019.
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.
CU has reached the Opening/Regional Round of the NAIA Championship 14 times since 2000 with their lone World Series appearance coming in 2009. 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.
