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Baseball: LWC Season Preview

The Lindsey Wilson baseball team is nearing the start of its 2023 campaign. Led by second-year head coach Ethan Utley, the Blue Raiders ended last season with a 24-24 overall record, including 10-14 in Mid-South Conference play. Lindsey Wilson saw its season end last year in the opening round of the MSC Tournament in a 2-1 series defeat against Bethel University (TN).

The upcoming season schedule for the Blue Raiders has been released, and the crew will begin in Johnson City, Tennessee where they will compete in the Milligan University Tournament on Feb. 3 and 4, 2023. The Blue Raiders return to Columbia, Kentucky Feb. 10 versus (RV) Olivet Nazarene University (IL) where they will begin a home stretch against a few solid opponents.


"February will be our toughest month as we are scheduled to play (RV) Olivet Nazarene, (RV) Indiana Wesleyan, and No.15 University of the Cumberlands in consecutive weekends," said Utley. "We also play three regional teams in No.18 Indiana Southeast, (RV) Freed-Hardeman, a conference opponent, and Bryan College who made it to the championship weekend of the Opening round."

After a stretch of tenacious opponents in February, the Blue Raiders open March with a solid matchup in No. 18th-ranked Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, Indiana. LWC then heads to Wilberforce, Ohio to face Wilberforce University (Ohio) before returning home to Egnew Park.

Lindsey Wilson jumps back into conference play on March 10 against Georgetown College (KY) after two home battles with Midway University (KY) and Lourdes University (Ohio). The Blue Raiders then hit the road for three straight series matchups starting with Pikeville (KY) on March 17, then Johnson (Tenn.) on the 22nd, and Tennessee Southern on the 24th.

The next opponent for LWC in their game back home will be Indiana University Southeast on March 29th and then a three-game series against rival Campbellsville University (KY) to end the month. The Blue Raiders then get another shot at Bryan College (Tenn.) before going back to Tennessee for a short series with Bethel University (Tenn.).

The Blue Raiders will then face Cumberland University (Tenn.) for its home finale before taking on Oakland City University (Ind.) and (RV) Freed-Hardeman University to end the regular season off in April.

This year's Blue Raider squad will have 10 players returning that hit over .300 last year with at least 50 at-bats. Four all-conference hitters from last year's team including Lucas Bault, Gabe Board, Chance Stayton, and Koby Wall will be back at the plate this season as well.

Second-team all-conference and former Mid-South Freshman of the Year Cohen Achen looks to pick up where he left off for the Blue Raiders. Achen finished his sophomore year with an ERA of 4.25 and over 10 strikeouts per game in 12 appearances on the mound.

Utley mentioned the strengths of this year's team will be the veteran leadership and having a group of guys that have multiple years of experience playing in the Mid-South. He noted the pitching depth is deeper and more experienced than it has been in several years. Those returners include Achen, Edwin Quedeza, Kyle Collin, Cade Duncan, Brandon Watts, and Bailey Turner who all appeared in at least 10 games for LWC last year.

The Blue Raiders also added Tennessee native Mason Malone and Glenn Simes from Sarasota, Florida onto the 2023 roster.

"I'm incredibly confident in this team," said Utley. "For the time being we are taking it day by day and the goal is as always to maximize our potential and be playing our best baseball in late April."

Lindsey Wilson baseball will start its season on Friday, Feb. 3 when they take on Indiana University-South Bend in the Milligan University Tournament at 3pmCT in Johnson City and Kingsport, Tennessee.


This story was posted on 2023-02-01 08:51:42
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