After claiming the NCCAA Central Region title, the CCU Baseball team earned a spot at the NCCAA Nationals held in Greenville, South Carolina. The tournament holds two days of pool play before the semi-finals on Friday, May 25^th. Day one of pool play began on Wednesday, May 23^rd, and saw the Cougars finishing the day with a split.

Game 1 vs Warner University: W 8-3

The first game of the tournament was a strong win for the Cougars, after they defeated the Royals of Warner University 8-3. CCU landed three runs in the bottom of the first to get their momentum going, after Warner scored 1 to begin the game. It all started out with the first batter, Cooper Gray, who reached first after being hit by pitch but advanced to third after a double from the next batter, Jerry Gallegos. Stepping up to bring his fellow senior home, Scotty Wright singled through the left side to bring home Gray and put the Cougs on the board. Austin Atkerson was then walked to load the bases with seniors. Hunter Hays then singled to bring home Wright, giving CCU the lead 2-1. With a sac fly from Joel Manzano to bring home Wright, the Cougars closed out the inning with a 2 run lead, 3-1.

Joey Loranger closed out the 2^nd inning quickly, with a pop out and two strikeouts. The Cougars also had a quick inning of their own, with only one hit which came from Jerry Gallegos with another double.

The fourth inning saw a matched score from the 1^st inning, with Warner scoring 1 and CCU scoring 3. The Cougars run began with Scotty Ingle on 2^nd after a fielder's choice, and Cooper Gray on 1st after getting hit by pitch a second time. Jerry Gallegos hit a single, but with an error on the field he advanced to second and scored both runners. Scotty Wright then hit a double of his own to bring home Gallegos and put the Cougars up 6-2.

Landing a homer in the top of the 6th, Warner earned their fianl run in style. CCU however brought in two more runs in the bottom of the 7^th to give them some room for comfort and seal the win by 5. With runners on 1^st and 2^nd, Hunter Hays singled to bring both home for the final runs of the game.

Joey Loranger took the win after pitching 7 innings and forcing four Royal strikeouts. Justin Kiedinger, who was out for most of the season due to injury, came in for the last two innings to close out the game and landed two strikeouts.

Leading the Cougars offensively was senior Jerry Gallegos who tallied 3 hits, 2 runs, and an RBI. Scotty Wright was also strong with twos across the board, earning 2 hits, 2 runs, and 2 RBI's. Hunter Hays brought in the most runs with 3 RBI and 2 hits.

Game 2 vs University of Saint Katherine: L 3-4

After a strong win in their 11am game, the Cougars only had a few hours off before their 6pm battle against the Firebirds of University of Saint Katherine. After a neck and neck game, the Firebirds took the victory with a walk-off to end the game 4-3. 

The first couple innings were quiet for both teams, but the Cougs were able to get on the board first in the top of the third. It was started and finished thanks to the Scotty duo. Scotty Ingle hit a single, advanced to second after Cooper Gray walked, reached third after a ground out, and was brought home by Scotty Wright with a single.

USK tied up the game in the bottom of the 4^th, fighting back to get a run despite starting the inning with two strikeouts thanks to Scotty Wright.

The 6^th inning was off to a good start for the Cougars with bases loaded from two walks and a hit by pitch. Austin Atkerson took advantage of a Firebird error and scored from third to give CCU the lead again, 2-1. To finish the inning, Scotty Wright took matters into his own hands on the mound, striking out three in a row.

The last run for the Cougars came in the top of the 8^th, after Luke Bote reached third after USK made an error. He was then brought home on a sac bunt from Cooper Gray, extending the lead by 2. The Firebirds however did not let the errors get to their heads, and scored a single run of their own to shorten the difference back to one yet again. Carrying their momentum into the 9^th, the Firebirds held the Cougars scoreless to go into the final inning with a great deal of pressure. They tied up the game with their first batter who reached third on an error, then scored on a wild pitch. With runners on first and second, USK hit a walk-off single to end the game and take the win with a final score of 4-3.

Scotty Wright had himself quite a day, after a solid first game from behind the plate and an outrageous 14 strikeouts in game 2. Wright struck out over half of the batters he faced, setting a new season record. He also landed a hit and an RBI to help the Cougars against USK. 

After an exciting day of baseball, the Cougars will take the field on Thursday, May 24^th with back to back games against two sets of Tigers. A schedule change due to weather has the Cougars first game at 1pm against Hiwassee College, and 4pm against Campbellsville University to stay in the fight for the semi-finals on Friday the 25^th.