PREVIEW: Baseball Begins Tournament Play Monday

Baseball opens TCCAA Tournament play in Columbia, Tenn. against sixth-seeded Dyersburg State Eagles on Monday. First pitch is set for 5:30 ET.

The third-seeded Cougars, who finished the regular season 27-18 with a 15-9 conference record, enter the tournament on a two-game winning streak after they took two-of-three in Dyersburg on April 26 and 27.

Cleveland State will hope that the bat of Jonathan Hickman will continue to stay hot against the Eagles. In the last series with Dyersburg, Hickman was 6-for-11 with 2 RBI and a home run. Tucker Mendenhall also had three RBI in the series and will hope to continue to drive in runs.

The Cougars will also hope their pitching continues to shut down Dyersburg's offense. The last two wins against the Eagles, the starting pitchers gave up three runs each and the relief core only allowed one run.

All of baseball's games in the tournament will be broadcast on the official Region VII Baseball Tournament Youtube Channel, linked here.

LAST THREE SERIES:

April 26 & 27 at Dyersburg State, 2-1

April 23 at Chattanooga State, 0-1

April 18 vs. Southwest Tennessee, 1-1

NEXT THREE SERIES:

*May 5-11, TCCAA Tournament at Columbia State, TBD

*tournament is double elimination

CSCC TEAM LEADERS:

BA: Jonathan Hickman, .399

RBI: Jonathan Hickman, 38

HR: Rhett Baldwin, 7

R: Tucker Mendenhall, 42

SB: Tucker Mendenhall, 24 (t-third in TCCAA)

ERA: Ethan Walls, 4.45 in 54.2 IP

K: Ryan Inches, 80 in 65.1 IP (third in TCCAA)

DSCC TEAM LEADERS:

BA: Drew Reckart, .389

RBI: Evan Gillian, 49 (fifth in TCCAA)

HR: Drew Reckart and Luis Rodriguez, 5

R: Drew Reckart, 55 (third in TCCAA)

SB:  Evan Gillian, 20

ERA: Seth Wyse, 4.59 in 51.0 IP

K: Korey Wasson, 48 in 42.2 IP

Bracket:

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