The Chattanooga State Tigers baseball team had a season for the ages in 2023. The team finished the year 45-12, conference champs, and they ranked 15th nationally.
The Tigers entered the conference tournament as the No. 2 seed behind highly ranked Walters State (51-10) and after Chatt State fell to them 15-8 in the third-round of the tournament they needed to beat Vol State to have another shot at Walters.
Beat Vol State they did, 10-0 and then later that day had to square off with the Senators again. However, this time around they won a closely contest affair 9-7 and it all came down to a winner take all game the next day.
Chattanooga State got down 1-0 early but in the 3rd inning broke through for four runs and that was a lead they would never relinquish as they went onto win 9-6 to claim a conference title.
There was just one more opponent left in their way to reaching the pinnacle of the DI JUCO world which was Grand Junction, CO for the World Series. Unfortunately, the Tigers came up short in the best of three game series losing the final game in heartbreaking fashion 8-7 when Andrew College hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to grab the lead and the win.
Despite not making it to Grand Junction this team had a lot to be proud of and they also shattered expectations.
"They overachieved," head coach, Greg Dennis said. "This year was more of a slow gradual progression. We won some really impressive games in February, I knew we were going to have a rough time, our non-conference schedule was very challenging, and we just went out there and really put together some great games while beating some ranked teams."
He continued by saying, "To finish second in the regular season was outstanding and then to turnaround and win the conference tournament by beating the No. 1 ranked team in the nation twice and there are a lot of really, really positive memories (from the season)."
One really impressive stat I came across was that every single one of his everyday position players finished the season hitting above .300 which is a rare feat and means that there was balance up and down the lineup.
Their All-Tennessee Community College Athletic Conference performers were...
- Scott Campbell, OF (First Team) 67 runs scored, 11 doubles, seven home runs, 60 RBIs, 23 stolen bases, .349 batting average, and a .456 on-base percentage.
- Charlie Smith, P (First Team) 11-1 record, two complete games, 3.68 ERA over 80.2 innings pitched, and allowed only 59 hits in those 80.2 IP.
- Owen Brock, C (Second Team) 50 runs scored, 13 doubles, 43 RBIs, 44 walks, .360 batting average, and a .513 on-base percentage.
- Matthew Gist, P (Second Team) 9-3 record, 5.06 ERA over 74.2 innings pitched, and 77 strikeouts.
A couple of players who will be moving onto other baseball programs next fall are...
- Aiden McAskie, 1B - Charleston Southern
- Adam Haber, OF - Interest from Butler and FIU
- Owen Brock, C - Interest from lower-level DI programs as well as higher level DII schools
- Matthew Gist, P - Offered by Lee University in Cleveland
To hear the entire conversation with Greg Dennis, you can check it out here.
Photo Courtesy of Greg Dennis