To open up the 2009-10 season, we traveled to Chattanooga, Tennessee for an invitational tournament hosted by UTennessee-Chattanooga (UTC). Opponents included the defending Div. II Champions, UKentucky, Appalachian State, Tulane and UTC. It was a round-robin tournament with seeding games played on Saturday and tournament games played Sunday afternoon.

    After arriving in Chattanooga at 3:30am on friday night, we played the opening game against UT-Chattanooga at 9am on Saturday morning. Jason Morrow got the ball and showed improvement on his Fork Ball but unfortunately was unable to stop the UTC offense from striking six times. Dallas Gant served up a late inning solo-homerun but it came too late and we dropped the game 6-2.

    Our second game brought a repeat matchup from last years DII World Series Game. Jeff Richard was on the bump for the highly anticipated game and pitched a good game. While pitching 6.1 innings, he fanned 7, walked 7 and gave up no runs. Our offense was able to produce a sixth inning run, giving us a 1-0 advantage heading into the final frame. Sean Manahan came in with his electric fastball and devastating curveball but could not hold the Wildcats who managed to score 4 in the top half of the seventh. We pushed across another run on a sac fly in the seventh but failed to bring in two base runners left on base and dropped our second game 4-2. The loss to Kentucky was especially rough because of what transpired at the World Series in Butler, PA last May.

    Facing elimination, newly acquired junior, Kevin Nichols was given the nod for game three against UTC. With a lighting quick fastball and a knee-bending curveball, Nichols gave up two early runs but kept his composure throughout the rest of the game to hold the UTC offense. Lead by rookie, Nick Thrashers three run homerun, and some pinch-hitting heroics by rookie, Will Sheehan, Nichols received a lot of run support and went on to earn the first victory for the CCU Baseball Club this season. Final 12-2.

    With two losses on our record going into Sunday, one loss is all we needed to pack our bags and head home; on the flip side, if we won three straight we would be crowned tournament champions. Since we beat UTC, we were still alive and knew darn well who our next opponent would be - Kentucky. In between our morning game and our second game against Kentucky, some unfortunate (non-life-threatening) events transpired for Tulane’s ball club which lead them to depart for Louisiana earlier than expected. With one less team in the tournament, the format was altered so there would be no winner and only one more game between us and Kentucky.

    In the weekend’s final game, Ryan Chadwick started and showed signs that proved he would be a serious part of our pitching staff come this spring. It was our defense, however that let the game slip away and we ended up dropping the contest 10-4.

    Overall the weekend was a success. It gave the both returning players and new players a taste of what is to come. Our play left much room for improvement but we feel we will have all the kinks worked out come February, when we host another invitational tournament here in Myrtle Beach.