Local products start strong as college baseball season begins

As our region continues to dig out from the latest winter storm, many are looking for signs of spring anywhere they can be found. Fortunately, nothing says spring quite like baseball, and the new season has already begun for a few of the college and junior college teams in our region. Milligan University and Tusculum University already have some games under their belts, and King University is (tentatively) set to kick off its season this week. Meanwhile, Walters State Community College has managed to play five games. Milligan traveled to Talladega, Alabama, last week and got off to a 3-0 start by sweeping the Talladega Tornadoes. The Buffaloes swept a pair of seven-inning games on Thursday, winning 7-3 in the opener and 4-2 in the nightcap. They picked up another 12-7 win on Friday before hustling home to beat the approaching winter weather. Gaven Jones, a graduate of Daniel Boone High School, went 3-for-4 in the opener. The third-baseman scored three runs in the opening game of the doubleheader and added another hit in the nightcap. Jones is currently batting .600 through three games. Walters State won its first five games of the season during a successful trip to Allendale, South Carolina, to play a series of games against USC Salkenhatchie. Former Science Hill standout Major Osbolt overwhelmed the Indians in his first start of the season on Friday. The LSU signee blanked Salkenhatchie in three innings of work, allowing just two hits while striking out 10 batters. Osbolt boasts a fastball that hits the mid-90s to go along with a deceptive slider. He figures to be a main cog in Walters State's rotation before moving on to LSU next season. Jackson Berry, a redshirt freshman who played with Osbolt at Science Hill, drove in a pair of runs in Walters State's 11-0 victory. Berry has appeared in four games this season and is batting .300 with four RBIs. Sophomore Ryan Smith - also a product of Science Hill - has made a pair of relief appearances for the Senators and is currently sporting a 3.00 ERA. Brayden Blankenship, a sophomore right-handed pitcher who played his high school ball at Daniel Boone, is also expected to make a contribution for the Senators this season.