Eager Pioneers to Start Season in Florida
By: Nick Kieser
GALLATIN, TENNESSEE — The baseball program at Volunteer State Community College has started the 2019 season. To get it going the Pioneer program heads to Pensacola, Florida to play the first four games of the season.
Last season the Pioneers finished with a 30-18 record and placed third in the conference tournament which surprised the region seven teams. In conference games, the Pioneers had a 14-12 record to finish in fifth place to end the 2018 regular season.
Game one on Friday (Feb.8) at 5:00 p.m. will see the Pioneers play Coastal Alabama who finished last season with a 16-34 record. In regard to the potential of Vol State, this will be a good break-in game and weekend series as the season begins.
On Saturday Pensacola State College who finished last year 22-27 will play the Pioneers. Following that afternoon game Chattahoochee Valley Community College comes in to finish the day off against the Pioneers. Chattahoochee finished last season 48-12 and went to Grand Junction, CO for the JUCO World Series.
On the last day of the road trip the Pioneers face-off against the JUCO powerhouse San Jacinto College-North (Texas) who has the most wins as a program in junior college baseball history. San Jacinto is on probation for the 2019 season as the team utilized more than double the allotted amount allowed for scholarships. The team is not allowed to play in the JUCO World Series this year. The news release about San Jacinto is credited toThe Daily Sentinel.
"I am excited for having competition. We're playing top teams when we go to Florida. We didn't have this opportunity last season to do this," said RHP Chase Haley.
Haley was red-shirted as a reserve player last season and he will have his Pioneer debut in Florida this weekend to kick the season off.
"I had a PRP injection going into my freshman year at Vol State. I played over the summer and felt back to normal. I'll play this weekend and I could possibly see myself getting to relieve against San Jac," said Haley.
To stay updated on the Pioneers follow the Twitter @VSCCPioneersBSB for more news and analysis as the 2019 season gets underway. Listen to our podcast Pioneer Diamond Chat as well on iTunes and Spotify; the first episode releases February 9.