Patriots in “play in” game

The 2009 Mid-South Conference Baseball Tournament is set to begin at Georgetown College Saturday with the University of the Cumberlands the #3 seed.

The Patriots finished up the regular season Thursday with a 6-4 loss to #20 Tennessee Wesleyan.

Cumberlands will play in one of the two “play-in” games Saturday. They will take on the Bears of Pikeville College at noon. The winner will Georgetown College Sunday at 3:30.

Fourth seeded West Virginia Tech will take on Lindsey Wilson College Saturday at 3:30 p.m. with the winner meeting #6 Campbellsville University, the Mid-South Conference number one seed.

One team will be eliminated Sunday in Game 5 of the Mid-South Conference with two teams emerging out of Monday’s play that will play for the conference championship. Those teams will play at the winner of Game 8, May 1 or 2. That will be the site of the winners’ bracket finalist.

The Patriots swept a four-game series with the Bears, March 6-7, outscoring Pikeville 40-14. A win would send the Patriots against host Georgetown College. The Tigers took three of four from the Patriots in Williamsburg.

Campbellsville, 32-8, who finished the Mid-South portion of their season with a 16-1 record, ranked 10 in NAIA, is an overwhelming favorite to win the conference tournament. Cumberlands and Georgetown College finished with identical 14-8 records, but the Tigers took the number two spot by winning three of four games from the Pats.

Cumberlands, led by seniors Andrew Denton, Jeremy Taylor, Ronnie Hawkins, Dylan Holt, Tyler Lee and Adam Blakey, closed out the regular season 29-16. It is the least amount of wins in coach Brad Shelton’s tenure at the Cumberlands.

Shelton took over the Patriots in June of 2001 and guided the Williamsburg school to the biggest turn around in college baseball the next season. The Patriots were 7-34 in 2001 and 34-29 in 2002.

Weather hit the Mid-South hard this season with most teams unable to complete their conference schedules as well. Commissioner Mike Pollio had to go as far as waiving a by-law that allowed Campbellsville to hold on to their number one seed in the Mid-South Conference when teams were unable to complete their 24-game schedule.

Teams are normally required to play 75 percent of their conference games. Campbellsville missed the requirement by one game. Cumberlands and Georgetown College played 22 games while Lindsey Wilson and West Virginia Tech played 21 games. Pikeville played 19 games, losing everyone of their conference games. St. Catharine, who was ineligible for the 2009 MSC Baseball Tournament as they serve a mandatory one-year probation after joining the NAIA, played 18 games.