CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Believe it or not, baseball season is upon us as the Campbellsville University baseball team will travel down to Mobile, Ala. for four games this Saturday and Sunday against University of Mobile and Talladega College.
 
Games on each day will begin at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT locally in Mobile as the first game of each day for the Tigers will be against No. 24 Mobile with the second game of the days against Talladega will begin around 3:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. CT.
 
Originally, the games were scheduled to be played on Friday and Saturday but iffy weather forecasts for Friday in Mobile pushed the games to be played on Saturday and Sunday where skies look clear and temperatures project to be up in the mid-to-high 60s.
 
The Rams of Mobile will enter the weekend already owning a 4-0 record after a four-game series sweep against Midway University last weekend. Dalton Rone and Christian Poché led the Rams in at bats as Poché went 7-for-12 (.583) with two doubles and eight RBIs in the four games. On the mound, Hunter Avery earned a win in his first start without allowing a run and giving up six hits in a team-high six innings pitched.
 
CU and Talladega faced off in a mid-week matchup last season with the Tornadoes coming out on top with a 3-5 final as TC will enter this weekend at 2-3 after five games played last week. The Tornadoes earned wins against Rio Grande while dropping their games against Bryan College and Rust College.
 
Offensively Wilkin Louis has had a strong four-game start going 8-for-15 (.533) with three runs scored and six RBIs as his hit and RBI totals lead the Tornadoes so far. Their innings leader has been Oracio de Leon, who lost his only start after pitching six innings and giving up two earned runs but striking out eight batters.
 
The Tigers will head into the opening weekend of their season ranked at No. 25 in the NAIA Preseason Coaches' Poll as they look to mix a combination of returners and newcomers for both their pitching staff and positional lineup.
 
Key returners in the pitching staff will actually transition from the bullpen to the starting rotation as Jesse Davis and Gage O'Brien are slated to start two of the games in this opening weekend after being lockdown guys at the back end of the pen.
 
The middle of the diamond will also count on returning players to carry some of the offensive load as the double play combination of Tommy Sepulveda at shortstop and Cale Thompson at second base both hit over .330 last season in over 100 at bats.
 
Adbiel Morales returns as a 2019 All Mid-South Conference performer as the catcher/outfielder/designated hitter finished with the team-high seven home runs while finishing the season with a .323 average. Senior Jalen Horton, who took a redshirt season last year, will look to contribute in the outfield early on potentially as the starting center fielder after hitting .254 in 2018 while also scoring 34 runs and stealing 24 bases on 30 attempts.
 
CU's pitching staff will bring in plenty of new arms led by Alexander Salazar who comes in from Riverside Community College and could look to get the ball in the opener against Mobile. Salazar pitched in 81 innings for Riverside finishing with a 2.00 ERA and 90 strikeouts for a 10.0 K/9 average.
 
Adding some pop in the middle of the lineup was key for the Tigers heading into 2020 and that's what they hope they'll get out of the trio of Tyler Cox and Jorge Ortiz.
 
Cox, right-handed hitting outfielder/first baseman, comes in from East Tennessee State University where he only competed in seven games last season but prior to that he averaged a .385 batting average, 17 home runs and 59 RBIs in two seasons at Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City, Mo. as a freshman and sophomore.
 
Ortiz, a lefty first baseman, comes to Campbellsville from Coffeyville Community College where he played for two seasons. His career numbers over those two seasons finished at a slash line of .343/.439/.568 (avg./OBP/slg.) while hitting 17 home runs and driving in 112 runs in 347 at bats.
 
After this opening weekend, the Tigers will stay on the road for another weekend trip when they face Point University for a three-game series on Feb. 14-15 with no mid-week game scheduled for next week.