The Sinclair Community College men’s baseball team will have opened regional postseason play by the time this edition comes out.
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The Tartan Pride are playing in the Region 12 NJCAA tournament, held in Battle Creek, Mich. The Pride open at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 13, versus Muskegon Community College, in what is called game 1.
Coach Steve Dintaman said he’s seen Muskegon before.
“We played them last year,” Dintaman said. “We will do some work on every team in the regional but our man focus will be game 1. They have a solid left-handed pitcher; we haven’t seen a lot of lefties this year.”
If the Pride defeat Muskegon, they move on to the semifinals (in what’s called game 7) to face the winner of Macomb Community College and Jackson Community College. Game 7 will be played at 6 p.m. that Friday evening.
Playing two games on one day was something the Pride could prepare for, according to Dintaman.
“We will be ready, we played six games in three days before,” Dintaman said. “It was all by design.”
The tournament is double-elimination, so if the Pride lose at any point they can still win the tournament. But, Dintaman said the path of least resistance to moving on is to win every time out.
If the Pride win every game, it’ll only take four games to win the regional.
Dintaman said he believes the Tartan Pride pitching could carry them through the tournament.
“I’ve told my guys that it comes down to this, everyone has an ace, some have two, we have four,” Dintaman said. “It comes down to execution on the mound and at the plate. The team that does that and makes plays in the field will win.”
Dintaman said that Austin Pressly (5-1, 2.48 ERA, 27 K, 20 BB) will start the Pride’s opening game and Jeremiah Kerns (6-1, 3.58 ERA, 56 K, 19 BB) will start the second.
Dintaman said the rest of the rotation was yet to be determined as of deadline.