Buffs baseball tam looking to stay on roll

Johnson City Press
by Jeff Birchfield

Milligan College's baseball team is scheduled to compete in Appalachian Athletic Conference postseason tournaments starting today.

The baseball team will be the No. 6 seed at Kingsport's Hunter Wright Stadium after finishing 8-10 in the conference and 24-24 overall.

For its opponents, Milligan has to be viewed as a dangerous team after winning eight of its final nine games in the regular season including a split with No. 2-seeded Union this past Saturday.

“If you're going to be playing good ball, now is the time of year to do it,” said Milligan head coach Nathan Meade. “We've finally put all three phases of the game together. We've hit well all year, but I've been pleased with the way we're throwing and playing defense the last two or three weeks. We have some good momentum going into the tournament.”

Tennessee Wesleyan enters as the tournament favorite and Union is another perennial power. But, Milligan might have the deepest pitching rotation of any team now that ETSU transfer and former Happy Valley standout Todd Caldwell has come along. Caldwell, just 3-7 on the season, pitched four perfect innings in the opening-game victory over Union following five solid innings in the team's win over NCAA Division 2 Brevard.

Former Daniel Boone player Michael Dillow leads the team with eight wins. With Frank Newcombe (5-1), Nathan Fritz (3-6) and Caldwell as starters, and Keith Fenner and Jason Trivett in the bullpen, Meade believes the team has more firepower than their record indicates.

“We feel we have four quality arms we can run out there on any given day,” Meade said. “How the tournament is, you have to have pitching. The ways the guys have been throwing the ball the last three or four weeks, we have a lot of confidence who we put on the mound is going to get the job done. That's a huge plus.”

The bats have also been cracking for the Buffs lately.

Among those with over 100 at-bats, Johnson City products Justin Motte at .414 and Brandon Murphy at .393 lead the team in hitting.

Milligan plays King today at noon, but Meade feels confident the Buffaloes can compete against any of the top seeds.

“We lost a couple to Wesleyan, but we played two competitive games on Saturday,” he said. “The way we're playing now, we feel we can match up with anybody.”