Southwest Baseball Team Continues Record Breaking Season at Region VII Tourney

For more information contact:  Southwest Athletics Chief Information Office, Keith Gentry, at 901-333-4114 or e-mail mgentry@southwest.tn.edu.

The Southwest baseball team, winners of a school-record 41 games during the regular season, enters next week’s TCCAA/NJCAA Region VII Tournament as the number three seed and will play sixth seed and host school Volunteer State on Monday, May 8 at 4:30pm in Gallatin, Tennessee. The championship game is scheduled for Thursday, May 11 with the ‘if necessary’ game on Friday, May 12. The region champion advances to the Appalachian district championship May 16-18 at the site of the Region 17 champion. The district champion qualifies for the NJCAA National Tournament May 27-June 3 in Grand Junction, Colorado.

“We had an outstanding regular season, first accomplishing our initial goal of winning 30 games this year” said Southwest Head Coach Erik Schoenrock. “Once we hit that mark, we knew it was possible to potentially break the school record of 40 wins in a season, so our guys locked in on getting that done and were able to do so in the last game of the regular season against Cleveland.” 

“One thing we have talked about this week, in preparation for the tournament, is that we are 0-0 now and a brand-new season is about to start. I think our guys are focused on the task at hand, as we are headed to Gallatin trying to win our first conference championship since 2004. We have earned the 3rd seed in this tournament and we feel good about some of the potential matchups.”

Several Saluqi sophomores have made the record book including first baseman Brady Holloway, who batted .349 during the regular season with 55 runs batted in and a team-leading 14 home runs. In addition, Holloway has hit 21 home runs in his career at Southwest, setting a new school record. Third baseman Tyler Harrington is the team’s top hitter with a .445 batting average, is second on the team with 11 home runs and leads the team with 69 runs batted in, which is the 2nd most all-time at Southwest. Another record-breaking sophomore is second baseman Tuane Cope, who is batting .357, leads the team with 36 stolen bases this season, and has a Southwest record 56 steals in his career.

Other top hitters are sophomore centerfielder BJ Banyon (second on the team with a .397 average and 19 stolen bases), sophomore leftfielder Anthony Zarlingo (.333 average, 44 runs batted in), sophomore rightfielder RH Frankland (.291 average, 6 home runs, 26 runs batted in), and freshman designated hitter Bryce Turner (.346 average, 12 doubles, 29 runs batted in).

The Saluqis also have one of the top pitching staffs in the conference, led by sophomore Colton Brumley, who leads the team with 12 wins and 120 strikeouts, both Southwest single season records. He also has a school-record 217 strikeouts in his career at Southwest, breaking the record of Saluqis’ Hall of Famer and former major leaguer Charlie Lea, and Brumley’s 18 career wins has tied Lea for the top spot. Other top starting pitchers are sophomore Wesley Culley (4 wins, 63 strikeouts), and freshmen Markell Dixon (6 wins, 87 strikeouts) and Peyton Charles (6 wins, 43 strikeouts). 
“I believe in our guys and know they will stay locked in to focusing on one game at a time, just like they did in the regular season” said Schoenrock. “I think we are equipped for tournament play, because we have shown that we are able to win games in a number of ways, whether that be playing in a slugfest - 12 to 10 type game – or in a low scoring, pitcher’s duel. It will be an exciting week at Vol State, and I know our guys are ready to get up there and compete.”