With three hitters over .400, #3 seed in tourney, Tigers are strong contenders for the title

The Hampden-Sydney baseball team got hot at the right time and has a great chance to compete at the ODAC Tournament in Lynchburg, VA this weekend. The Tigers earned the #3 seed after splitting their final two games with Randolph-Macon. It was a tight conference race this year with Bridgewater finishing at 14-4 in ODAC play while Virginia Wesleyan and Hampden-Sydney tied for 2nd place with records of 14-4. However, Virginia Wesleyan holds the regular season tiebreaker over the Tigers giving them the 2 seed. With six teams making the tournament, the field rounds out with Randolph-Macon, Lynchburg, and Washington and Lee at 4, 5, and 6 respectively. The Tigers open up with a familiar foe, Randolph-Macon, who was their last opponent of the regular season. In the double elimination tournament, they will continue to play throughout the weekend. Try to make it out as the tournament is held at the Lynchburg Hillcats beautiful minor league facility.

The story of the second half for Hampden-Sydney was the outstanding offensive play of senior third baseman Matt Brown. Brown finished the season with an unheard of .450 batting average to go along with 15 homeruns and 51 RBI, all three of which were team highs. He won two straight ODAC player of the week awards in stretch where it seemed like he was hitting multiple homers in every game. He is something special and the type of player that can lead a team a long way in the postseason.

Brown wasn’t the only offensive contributor for the Tigers. Not far behind him in batting average was Herbie Williams who finished the year batting .414 with 4 dingers and 22 RBI. Opposing pitchers hated giving up hits to Herbie as he is a nightmare on the basepaths. He finished with a team high 28 steals on 34 attempts. As if 2 players batting .400 wasn’t enough, first baseman Justin Hebert decided to join the party. Hebert batted .402 on the regular season and added a little power of his own with 7 bombs and 24 RBI.

The Tigers got it done with veteran leadership on the mound as well. Senior Johnny West was the ace of the staff after four years of hard work under Coach Kinne’s guidance. West finished with a 7-3 record and 3.27 ERA, which is a very low number for college baseball. He also threw 7 complete games. Senior Ryan Daniel was a key part of the Tigers staff as well, though his stats took a hit after his final start of the season in Ashland. Daniel went just 3 innings in the start while giving up 7 earned runs. Despite this blemish on his record, Daniel finished the year 7-3 with a 5.35 ERA. After his big two, Coach Kinne has a few options out of the pen. Kyle Grantier, Dan Nicoll, and Tyler Napier have all been key contributors and will look to pick up some productive innings out of the pen. For the Tigers to have postseason success they will also need some good starts from Mike Blanchard who went 5-0 in 6 starts on the year. 

This should be an exciting tournament for the Tigers as they are playing great baseball right now. All of the games will be broadcast live from Lynchburg and a feed can be found on the Hampden-Sydney baseball website.

Related posts:

1. Baseball Tigers Look to Continue Winning Ways
2. Tigers Prepare for ODAC Championships
3. Baseball Season Has Been Full of Ups and Downs
4. Where are All the Baseball Fans?
5. Tiger Baseball Season Preview