Baseball Conference Opener Split with Chatt State
By: Timothy M. Reece, Athletic Media Coordinator
On Friday, February 14th, Vol State (8-1) hosted the Chattanooga State Tigers (9-4), for the TCCAA conference opening weekend. Weather would again be a factor as the Friday DH would be all the teams could play as the rains came in on Saturday.
In game 1, Eben Hansen (SO-RHP) got his 3nd start of the season and battled the Tigers in the first 3 innings, allowing 3 hits in the 1st; walking 3 and hitting 1, allowing 1 run in the 2nd; and striking out all 3 batters in the 3rd. The Pioneers offense tied the game 1-1 on an RBI single by Easton Denning (FR-1B) to drive in Hudson Blank (FR-3B) from 2nd base, who had singled to lead off the inning and alertly moved to 2nd base on a foul pop out.
However, the 4th inning would be Hansen's undoing as he hit the first batter, allowed an infield single, then walked the Tigers' lead-off batter to load the bases. Drew Morehead (FR-RHP), who is the current TCCAA Region 7 Pitcher-of-the-Week, was greeted rudely by Braden Graves of Chatt State, who hit a grand slam to left center field. The Tigers added another run in the inning on a 2 out walk and a double. The Tigers led 6-1 after 3 ½ innings.
Vol State did not answer in the bottom of the 4th, and Chatt State added 3 more runs in the 5th and a single run in the 6th, to take a 10-1 lead. The Pioneers did add a run in the bottom of the 6th. Scotty Dean (SO-C) walked to open the inning. Back-to-back singles by Carson Sanders (SO-DH) and Reed Muschinsky (R/SO-OF), who both finished 2-3, loaded the bases. Pinch hitter Brady Knepper (SO-SS), in his first at-bat of the year, hit a sacrifice fly to CF that drove in Dean. Vol State (8-2, 0-1) could not push across any more runs in the 6th or 7th and lost the first conference game, 10-2. Hansen (0-1) took the loss. Caden Blackford (R/SO-RHP) came on in relief in the 6th inning and retired 5 of the 6 batters he faced, not allowing a hit, a run, or a walk, striking out 1. Blackford was named the Toyota of Gallatin Player-of-the-Game.
Jack McLaury (SO-RHP) took the ball in Game 2 for Head Coach Jim McGuire and the Pioneers, hoping to tame the potent Tigers hitters. After 3 batters in the top of the 1st, the outlook for Vol State was not good. Two doubles, sandwiched around a strikeout, gave Chatt State the early 1-0 lead. McLaury then induced two groundouts to end the inning.
Vol State tied the game in the bottom of the 1st without the aid of a hit. Drew Plummer (R/SO-2B) walked to lead off the inning. He then stole 2nd base and moved to 3rd on a groundout. A wild pitch scored Plummer to tie the game 1-1.
McLaury would then go on to shutout the Tigers over the next 5 innings, scattering 3 hits, a walk, and a hit batter. His teammates would score 8 runs on 7 hits over the next 5 innings to defeat Chattanooga State 9-1. A 2-run home run by Lex Falsone (SO-C), on the first pitch he saw as a hitter in the 2025 season, put the Pioneers ahead for good in the bottom of the 2nd inning. In the 5th inning, Vol State (9-2, 1-1) matched the 5 run inning put up by Chatt State in game 1. Plummer singled and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Denning. Devin Thrain (R/SO-CF) doubled and later scored on a single by Gage Hoover (SO-LF). A 2-out single by Muschinsky put 2 runners on base before A.J. Armstrong (FR-3B) hit his 1st collegiate home run over the LF fence to score 3 runs and give the Pioneers an 8-1 lead. Falsone led off the bottom of the 6th inning with a solo home run, his 2nd of the day, giving him a 2-3 day with 3 RBI's, earning him Toyota of Gallatin Co-Player-of-the-Game, along with Jack McLaury (3-0), who earned his 3rd win of the year. Chip Harris (SO-RHP) got the final 3 outs in the 7th inning for Vol State to close out the game and give the Pioneers the 9-1 win. It was their first win over the Tigers since March 2023.
As of this writing, the next scheduled games have been moved to Saturday, February 22nd and Sunday, February 23rd, as Vol State will continue in the TCCAA and travel to Memphis to take on Southwest TN in a 3-game series. The 9-inning game will be played on Saturday at 2pm. Two, 7-inning games, will begin at noon on Sunday. All games are scheduled to be carried on the VolState Sports Network YouTube channel.