Cleveland State Baseball Finishes One Game Away From Region Tournament Championship
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 12 | 2 |
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6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | X | 13 | 15 | 1 |
Cleveland State came one game shy of reaching a second straight region championship.
Last season the Cougars lost to Dyersburg State in the region 7 championship, while this season Cleveland needed to beat the Eagles to qualify for the double elimination TCCAA tournament.
Cleveland beat Dyersburg by a run 2-1 to advance. Turner Junkins pitched a complete game four hitting allowing one earned run while striking out six and hitting three batters. Third baseman Evan Goins went 2-4 driving in a run while first baseman Nelson McKnight hit home the other. Designated Ty Denton doubled twice and scored a run.
Cleveland State then went on to rout Pellissippi State 20-5 in their next game of the tournament. Leftfielder Aiden McClary and centerfielder Nate Dunfee each homered. McCleary drove in five runs in the game going 4-7 while scoring four runs.
The Cougars took down Roane State next 7-5. Adam Baker earned the victory pitching seven innings allowing two earned runs on six hits while striking out a batter and walking three. DH Jacob Cooper went 2-3 homering and driving in three runs.
First place Walters State handed Cleveland their first lost of the tournament 12-3. Second baseman Brogan Jones scored and drove in a run going 2-4 in the game.
The Cougars needed to beat Pellissippi again to make it back to the championship game to face Walters State, but came up short 13-10. Dunfee went 3-4 scoring twice. Denton was 3-4 with a run scored and two runs batted in. McClary scored three times going 2-4 with an RBI.
Walters State went on to win the region championship beating the Panters 12-1. The Cougars finished their season 30-25 with a conference record of 18-11.
Edwin Bear
Cleveland State Community College
Sports Information/Media Relations
