Baseball 2/13/2020 9:08:00 AM CU Athletics

Baseball Preview: Schedule change sends Tigers to Hattiesburg to face William Carey and No. 18 Bryan

HATTIESBURG, Miss. — A slight change in the schedule has moved the Campbellsville baseball team back down south to Mississippi for their second weekend series of the year. The 25^th-ranked Tigers travel William Carey to play the host Crusaders and No. 18 Bryan College in a pair of doubleheaders.

First pitch on Friday, Feb. 14 is scheduled for 12 p.m. ET against Bryan College and the nightcap will feature the Tigers and William Carey at 7 p.m. ET.

On Saturday, CU and Bryan play at Noon ET and then the Tigers turn around again to play the Crusaders at 3 p.m. ET.

All four games can be heard on the Campbellsville University Sports Network as former Tiger Tony Fonzo will have the radio call.

Last Weekend – Tigers split Opening Weekend Series at Mobile:

Campbellsville split the doubleheader series last weekend with a 3-2 loss and 3-2 win over No. 24 Mobile. Then CU split a 4-2 win and 3-2 loss to Talladega.
Offensive, the Tigers were led by Adbiel Morales and Tommy Sepulveda at the plate as both tallied four hits in the four combined games.
Morales is hitting .364 after going 4-for-11 and Sepulveda is hitting .267 after going 4-for-15. Morales had the lone homerun for CU last weekend as well.
Luis Padron saw action in three of the games with one start and went 2-for-5 at the plate.
On the mound, the Tigers were solid but 12 overall walks haunted CU in the four games. Alex Salazar tossed 5.1 innings, allowing three unearned runs and striking out six.
Gage O'Brien was stellar tossing five innings, three hits, one unearned run and striking out eight.
Steven Butts and Jesse Davis both saw time and all six of their outs were registered via the strikeout.

Defense was costly:

The Tiger defense fell victim to eight errors overall in the four games and five of the 10 runs that were scored against CU were unearned.
Since 2015, Campbellsville has ranked in the Top 30 in fielding percentage throughout the NAIA.

Last year's Season Opener at William Carey:

The Tigers went to William Carey to open the 2019 season and won the series 3-1.
Campbellsville won games one (7-2), three (4-1) and four (6-2. The Tigers lost game two (2-0).

Scouting William Carey:

The Crusaders are 4-2 on the year with three wins over Missouri Baptist University.
One of the two losses came on a 10^th inning thriller to Columbia College, falling 8-5.
Blake Freeman leads the team in average at .417 with five hits in 12 at bats but RJ Stinson and Jordan Szush have started on fire as well.
Stinson is hitting .409 (9-of-22) with the lone William Carey home run and six RBI.
Szush is hitting .393 (11-of-28) with a team-high eight home runs and the lone triple.
On the mound, Sloan Dieter is 2-0 after tossing 11 innings and striking out 19 while only walking two batters. Opponents are hitting just .111 off Dieter to start the year.
Their No. 2 starter – Jay Simpson – is 1-0 on the year and tossed 11 innings allowing four earned runs and striking out 16,

Scouting Bryan College:

The Lions are starting the season ranked No. 18 in the Preseason and are 5-0 after wins over Talladega, Rio Grande and Brescia.
Offensively, Bryan has outscored opponents 34-14 but the Lions are hitting just .264 as a team on the year.
Led by Wade Weinburger hitting .333 (6-of-18), he also has the team-high in home runs (2) and RBI (6).
Bryan did take advantage of its opponents and has recorded 36 walks at the plate to push the team on-base-percentage to .466.

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Players Mentioned

#26 Tony Fonzo: INF; 6' 0"; Redshirt Senior; Ventura, Calif.

#32 Gage O'Brien: RHP; 6' 4"; Junior; Tucson, Ariz.

#12 Jesse Davis: RHP; 6' 1"; Junior; Lake Oswego, Ore.

#9 Adbiel Morales: C; 6' 0"; Junior; Arecibo, Puerto Rico

#5 Tommy Sepulveda: INF; 5' 9"; Junior; Catano, Puerto Rico

#18 Luis Padron: INF; 5' 9"; Sophomore; Miami, Fla.

#27 Steven Butts: LHP; 5' 10"; Graduate Student; Phoenix, Ariz.

Players Mentioned

#26 Tony Fonzo
: 6' 0"; Redshirt Senior; Ventura, Calif.
: INF

#32 Gage O'Brien
: 6' 4"; Junior; Tucson, Ariz.
: RHP

#12 Jesse Davis
: 6' 1"; Junior; Lake Oswego, Ore.
: RHP

#9 Adbiel Morales
: 6' 0"; Junior; Arecibo, Puerto Rico
: C

#5 Tommy Sepulveda
: 5' 9"; Junior; Catano, Puerto Rico
: INF

#18 Luis Padron
: 5' 9"; Sophomore; Miami, Fla.
: INF

#27 Steven Butts
: 5' 10"; Graduate Student; Phoenix, Ariz.
: LHP