May 5, 2008 --- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

Nationally Ranked Pioneers Seeking Third Consecutive Region Title

 2008 Region X Tournament Brackets (requires Adobe Reader)

SPARTANBURG, SC – The Spartanburg Methodist College Pioneers baseball team enters the National Junior College Athletic Association’s Region X tournament this week as the No. 1 seed , with the hopes of claiming their third region title in a row. 

SMC (42-12, 29-8), ranked 12th in NJCAA Division I, has a first-round bye and opens the region tournament on Wednesday, May 7th, against the winner of the Blue Ridge Community College-Guilford Tech first-round matchup.  

The Pioneers are 2-1 on the season against Blue Ridge and 2-0 against Guilford. 

“It’s been a great season thus far. We’ve met two of our goals – with 40 wins and the No. 1 seed in the tournament. If we continue to play like we have, hopefully we’ll have a good shot to make it to Grand Junction,” says head coach Tim Wallace. 

The team leads the Carolinas Junior College Conference with a .783 winning percentage. It also leads the league in runs, hits, homeruns, team ERA, and earned runs. 

Sophomores Allen Caldwell, of Sumter, SC, and Jacob Wallace, of Spartanburg, are both ranked in the Top 25 nationally in RBIs – Caldwell at 19th with 64 and Wallace at 22nd with 61. 

Caldwell is the league RBI leader. He also holds its top spot in homeruns with 13 and in slugging with a .726. 

Sophomore Logan Bland, of Charleston, SC, is also ranked in the league’s Top 10 for RBIs with 41. 

Defensively, freshman Josh Salay, of Catawba, SC, leads the league in pitching 9-1 in 12 games. Charles Matthews (8-2, 13 games), of Athens, Ga, and Jeff Dulaney (8-2, 11 games), of Glenelg, MD, are 4th and 5th in the league, respectively.  

Freshman Patrick Mincey of Hartsville, SC, is ranked 8th in the nation in saves and leads the league with 8.  

“This team is pretty solid. It’s not flashy – it just plugs along. Offensively, now we go to nine-inning games and that should help us out. If we play good defense and pitch and hit like we have, we’ll do well this week,” says Wallace. 

“We’re not a typical SMC team. We’re not as athletic as previous teams, but when we hit it, you can tell by our statistics we’re pretty good. When we swing it, we have some big innings. That’s what we need this week – we need some big innings,” he adds. 

Spartanburg Methodist College has 14 intercollegiate teams that compete in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association, which includes colleges in the Carolinas, Virginia, and West Virginia.  

The College is in its 97th year of providing a quality education to students in a Christian environment. More than 90 percent of SMC graduates continue their education at other institutions of higher learning. 

For more information, contact head baseball coach Tim Wallace at (864) 587-4267 or director of public information Brian Fulkerson at (864) 587-4254. 

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