Tuesday, May 13, 2008

TUSCULUM BASEBALL NOTEBOOK: PIONEERS ARRIVE IN TAMPA FOR NCAA REGIONAL

TAMPA --- After a long day of travel and getting settled in, the Tusculum College baseball team arrived safely in Tampa, Fla. for this week’s NCAA Division II South Regional. It was a long, but uneventful day for the 13^th-ranked Pioneers, which began early Tuesday morning.

Select members of the coaching and support staff departed Monday night by van transportation and arrived in Tampa early Tuesday morning prior to the arrival of the remainder of the squad. The majority of the team left the Tusculum campus at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday morning with the exception of sophomore third baseman Paul Finger. Finger’s grandfather passed away earlier in the week and he has returned home to North Carolina to be with his family.

Tusculum head coach Doug Jones informed the team of the passing and offered a prayer for Paul and his family during this difficult time.

The team arrived at the McGhee Tyson Regional Airport in Knoxville in time for its 7:30 a.m. flight to Tampa, via Atlanta. While in Atlanta, Coach Jones and junior pitcher Boo Morrow conducted media interviews via cell phone as the team awaited its connecting flight to Tampa. Also arriving in Tampa at the same time as the Pioneers was South Atlantic Conference member Catawba College, who is also playing in this week’s regional.

After lunch, the team checked into its hotel at the Courtyard Marriott in downtown Tampa, just minutes away from the University of Tampa campus, host site of this year’s Regional.

Most of the team settled into their rooms to catch up on some sleep and rest before departing for St. Petersburg, Fla. and Tropicana Field for Tuesday’s American League East match-up between the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees. Catching some major league baseball action was also on the minds of the Catawba Indians who were also in attendance at Tuesday’s game.

The Pioneers and 16,558 others watched as Tampa Bay edged the Yankees 2-1 in 11 innings as the Rays took over first place in the East Division.

The Pioneers (40-13) will practice at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the UT Baseball Stadium as TC makes its final preparations for Thursday’s opening contest against Carson-Newman College. The match-up between the No. 2 seed Pioneers and fifth-seeded Eagles (41-16) will start at 3 p.m.

Tusculum is making its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance and fourth in the last six years.

- TC -