NGU baseball ranked nationally going into Conference Carolinas tournament
Michaela Gleed, Staff Writer
Photo courtesy of North Greenville University Sports Information.
North Greenville University baseball team heads into the last conference series against Barton College in a comfortable seed for the Conference tournament at number one.
As of March 20, 2018, Barton College is not seeded in the top six which means their season will wrap up against the Crusaders on their home turf. But North Greenville baseball has hosting the opening round in Tigerville, S.C. on the line. NGU must take home two wins out of three games this weekend.
The Crusaders are looking to take care of business against Barton and to be facing Limestone College, the number six seed in Conference Carolinas standings, in the first round of the conference tournament on their home turf. North Greenville swept the series against Limestone College during regulation play.
NGU baseball seems to be promising in the eyes of many people as they are ranked nationally for division II programs by multiple platforms: number 5 by Perfect Game, number 3 by College Baseball News, number 4 by the NCAA and number 1 by NCBWA College Baseball Writers.
The NGU baseball team trains hard and trains long for results like these. The team is persistent in swinging for excellence on the field. Overall the boys have set up a record of 36 and 6 for a .857 winning ratio. In the conference, they have rallied an 18 and 3 record for the same .857 winning ratio.
North Greenville baseball is known in the weight room to always bring high energy. A senior for the team, Salvatore Lavaglio, was a top contender for the North Greenville University FCA Cruzies award for “Male Iron Athlete of the year.”
Over this past season, the Crusaders have fielded a great group of skilled players with three of them earning Conference Carolinas Player of the Week. Connor Grant earned the title in week two (13 Feb.). Jeffrey Chandler earned it for week five (6 March) and week six (13 March). Most recently, Ryan Brown was name the Player of the Week by Conference Carolinas for week eleven (17 April). North Greenville pitcher, Tucker Burgess, was named the Conference Carolinas Pitcher of the Week for week ten (10 April).
The Crusaders have found individual successes for themselves but have never done it for anyone other than the team. Coach Powell raves about the character, charisma and closeness of his players and attributes much of their success to these characteristics.
