Cumberland is heading back to the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, ID, after besting Union College (KY) in the Super-Regional.

Well Cumberland is who knocked my Campbellsville Tiger's out in the championship game of the region. I was pretty confident they'd head to the CWS again. They also have a kid from Lexington that my son played against when he was a kid, so they'll be who I'm rootin' for to go all the way! Good luck guys!

Says alot about the quality of NAIA baseball to have two teams from East Tennessee going to the World Series. Lee University also qualified by defeating St Thomas University

Also, Tennessee Wesleyan had the bats necessary to make a run. But, they didn't have the pitching depth to go deep into a tournament.

Except for some depth issues, upper level NAIA ball in Tennessee is competitive with a lot of the DII teams.

quote:

Except for some depth issues, upper level NAIA ball in Tennessee is competitive with a lot of the DII teams.

Bizazz - I would take that even a little further. The BOTTOM teams in the Mid-South beat several DIs. I do believe that depth is the major separating factor between the top NAIA in TN (and KY as well) and DIs. You could put Cumberland of TN against many DIs and probably split a series... feel that way about Campbellsville as well. Eventually, the depth of the DI might win out although Cumberland, Campbellsville, and perhaps one or two others go fairly deep. I witnessed some of the best ball I've ever seen at the regional tournament.