MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. --- During this year's NCAA Division II Southeast Baseball Regional, Tusculum College players Eric Conley and JD Howard, will be providing a daily blog about their experiences at this week's tournament.

Day 5: May 20, 2012

JD HOWARD: Well, I'll keep this one brief. It was a rough day yesterday for all those involved. To sum it all up you just have to tip your hat to the kids at Catawba. Their pitcher probably had the game of his life, and the ball just didn't bounce our way. That's baseball and that's life. Maybe that's why baseball is the greatest game ever played. Anybody has a chance any given day to do something amazing. Our guys played their hearts out and it's extremely sad for such an awesome season to have to end the way it did.

My heart goes out to all of our seniors. They deserved better and I wish we could have sent them on to a world series. This team has truly been a family and something special to be a part of. I am thankful for every moment I was able to spend as a part of this group and wish you all nothing but the best. Thanks to every one back home for your love and support. Y'all have a great summer.

ERIC CONLEY: (12:30 a.m.) Well, today was a rough day at the ballpark for the Pioneers. We were defeated by Francis Marion 9-3, giving us our first loss of the regional tournament. There were many factors that played into the loss. We made too many errors, didn't execute on the offensive side of things, and let things that we couldn't control get to us. Basically, we didn't play Pioneer baseball. On the other side of the coin, Francis Marion played well. They kept us off balance all night at the plate, and took advantage of the mistakes that we made. The only good news for us is that we are down and not out. We will play conference rival Catawba in an elimination game at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon, and once we win that game we will play Francis Marion for a third time in this NCAA Regional tournament. The winner will advance to the Division II College World Series, and the loser will go home.

If there is one thing I know about this team, it is that we believe in one another and we never give up. Our backs may be against the wall, but I'd take our team in a dog fight any day because I know the guy beside me has my back. There is something special about this team…we are more than a team, we are a family. And it has been that special bond between all of us that has allowed us to have the type of season that we've had.

We are going to go out there and give it everything that we have tomorrow and bring a regional championship back to Greeneville with us. We just have to take it one game at a time, and go out and play the way we've played all year long.

The next blog that I write will be after the games tomorrow on our bus ride home.

Talk to ya tomorrow Pioneer Nation! #TCbaseball #nobrakes

Day 4: May 19, 2012

JD HOWARD: Word to the wise: stay away from the robust coffee in the lobby of Hampton Inns. Not that it's bad, it just does its job too well. Let's just say there was no shortage of energy through last night's ball game.

I'll begin by saying that this was possibly the single strangest set of events leading up to a game in my life. Everybody was pretty jacked up to start with. Whether this was due to caffeine or just excitement isn't clear. On the bus ride over we watched Justin Verlander lose his no-hitter. I'm sure it troubled Scott Simmons, but we all were relieved he didn't have another reason to tell us why the Tigers are the greatest team ever.

Then the crazy broke loose. We had bus troubles on the way to the game, apparently our transmission went out. So we pulled into a Hardee's. We just needed to stop for a snack on the way. Lyle the bus driver called his people. We prepared to hitch hike. Lyle tried a couple of victory laps but it became clear we were going to require outside assistance. While we waited all the hitters prepared for the game in the parking lot, going through hurdle and small bat routines like always. If we could have found a way I'm sure they would have taken BP too.

We wound up getting a ride from Francis Marion and had arguably the best bus ride of my career. Everybody is excited to be playing this late and hyped for this game. Can't say I've ever played a game this late, maybe that's why it's a little more exciting. That or the 27 cups of coffee I had might've kicked in.

We were watching the live stats of the Armstrong Atlantic - Lander game hoping they'd get done in time for us to play. Had a mini celebration when they finished with plenty of time for us to start before 12 and get the game in.

The game went by quick to me. Taylor Rakes threw a great game. Alexi Colon hit two bombs, Cody Coffman homered, and Aaron Guinn had another big day at the plate as we won 7-2. On the ride home, Armstrong Atlantic's bus driver took us through the drive-thru at McDonalds. By the time we got back to the hotel it was after 3 a.m.

We didn't have to wake up this morning until 1:30 p.m. to meet at Applebee's for lunch. It's a good thing too, because we sure needed some rest. We head back to the field for our game at 8 p.m. versus Francis Marion again. Hopefully it won't take until 3 a.m. again. As of right now we are boarding the bus to head for the game. It's time to take care of business again. No brakes.

ERIC CONLEY: (3:35 a.m.) Last night/this morning was interesting to say the least. We left the hotel at 9:30 p.m. because our game kept getting pushed back further and further. About five minutes into our trip, our bus broke down a mile from our hotel and 20-25 minutes away from the field. The transmission started acting up, and our bus driver, Lyle, said that he couldn't get it out of first gear. He was able to pull off the road and into a Hardee's parking lot. After about 45 minutes, Francis Marion sent their bus to come pick us up.

Once we arrived at the field, we quickly stretched and went through our pregame routines. The official game time ended up being 11:40 p.m.! However, we came out pumped up despite the late start and took an early 3-0 lead. Taylor Rakes threw well the entire game as he ended up throwing a complete game. We scored in six of the nine innings and had many big hits along the way. Cody Coffman hit a solo home run, while Alexi Colon hit is 20th and 21st home runs of the year. Aaron "Derb" Guinn also had another pretty good game at the plate (4-for-5), and as a team we executed many offensive situations throughout the game. The game ended at 2:15 a.m. and the final score was 7-2.

After the game, our bus was still not fixed so Armstrong Atlantic let us borrow their bus to get back to the hotel. On the way back, Coach (Andy) Collins was trying to find somewhere to get food for everyone, but there isn't exactly a lot of restaurants open at 2:30 a.m.. We chose the only logical choice at that time of the night….the McDonald's drive-thru. The guys' faces working the drive-thru window when we pulled up was priceless! At first I think they thought we were joking, but then realized that yes, this was really about to happen. Since the bus was too big to pull through the drive-thru, Coach Collins and Coach (Brandon) Steele had to walk up and order the food. About 20 minutes later they walked back to the bus with 50 cheeseburgers and 50 chicken sandwiches. We all got one of each. Not the most nutritious meal at 2:45 a.m., but then again beggars can't be choosers.

We arrived back to the hotel around 3:30 a.m., and everyone has made their way to bed. Billy Sivyer has been lying down for about seven minutes and he is already snoring up a storm in the bed next to me. Needless to say, most of us are exhausted, but we don't play again until 8 p.m. so we will have plenty of time to rest tomorrow afternoon. It's really starting to set in for me now that we are only two games away from the World Series. It excites me to my very core just thinking about it, however at the same time I know that we can't look ahead and we have to continue to play this thing one game at a time. We aren't sure who we will be playing yet tomorrow, but at the same time I am confident when I say that it doesn't really matter who we play. As long as we come out and play our game the way we are capable of playing, we are going to win.

Well Pioneer Nation, it's 4 a.m.….time for some sleep. I've nearly been awake for 24 straight hours. Talk to ya in a few hours.

(3:30 p.m.) I woke up this morning around 10 a.m. and took a shower. Sivyer and John Clarke were still sleeping, so I just laid back in bed and watched television until about 11:30 a.m. The Crossfit Games on ESPN caught my eye as I was flipping through the channels. The women who compete in that thing are absolute tanks. I'm almost 100% positive that every single one of them could take me in a fight. It really is impressive to watch them compete and put themselves through those kinds of events. We really haven't done anything so far today except going to eat at Applebee's as a team. We play tonight at 8 p.m. and it is looking like we will be playing Francis Marion again. They are beating Lander right now late in the game, and it looks like they will advance to set up the rematch.

The only thing that we have planned other than the game today is a meeting at 5:45 p.m. in the hotel lobby. We will probably go over the game plan for tonight and Coach (Doug) Jones will set a departure time and he will let us know which uniform we are wearing tonight. Other than that, everyone is just sitting around in their rooms watching television and playing video games. It will be interesting to see how we get to the game today. I'm not sure if our bus has been fixed yet or if we have to keep bumming rides from other teams. (Note from the management Eric - The bus has been repaired).

Due to our game being later again this evening, the game tonight will be in tomorrow's blog because we will not be returning to the hotel until around midnight. Hope all of you are following the games.

Talk to ya tomorrow Pioneer Nation!

Day 3: May 18, 2012

ERIC CONLEY: (11:45 a.m.) We just got back to the hotel after our continued game from yesterday against Catawba. We left this morning at 8:30 a.m. and headed to the field. Everyone seemed pretty confident that we would win the game on the ride over. Once we got there, the hitters went over to the cage to hit some BP while the pitchers began to stretch and get loose. Pat Holleran threw BP to us today because Coach Andy Collins's arm has been hurting him pretty badly. I guess throwing nearly 1,000 pitches every day all season has finally caught up to him. That or he is just getting soft on us. He hasn't been on Chris Lenker's injury report yet, so I'm not sure what to think.

We did not take infield today since it was a continuation from the day before, so once everyone was ready to go, we jumped right into the game. As a team, we did a great job of execution on the offensive side of things for both innings. A sacrifice fly by Heath Comerford scored Alexi Colon in the seventh inning to tie the game.

Michael Franklin came in and put up a zero for us in the top of the eighth, which was huge for us. In the bottom of the inning, Tripper Crisson led off the inning with a single down the left field line. Lukas Graves (aka Graveheart) did a great job on laying down the sacrifice bunt to move Trip to second base, and then Aaron "Derb" Guinn got a big hit that scored the run from second base. We took a 4-3 lead heading into the ninth as Franklin went back out to start the inning, but was relieved by John-Austin Shepard. Shep gave the Catawba hitters fits with his nasty slider, and ultimately finished them off and earned the save.

The win was huge for us. It wasn't pretty, but we found a way to get it done and ultimately that's all that matters. Once we got back to the bus, I was amazed at all the text messages and twitter mentions that I had from former players, Tusculum students, family, and friends congratulating us on the big win. It's awesome to have the kind of support that we have, and much of our success is because of all the support. So thanks to everyone who keeps up with our games and have been supporting the Pioneers all year!

Since we won the game today, it sets us up for a very long day. We will not play the late game tonight that isn't expected to begin until around 10 p.m. We will play a tough Francis Marion team who defeated Armstrong Atlantic yesterday. It will be a tough challenge, but we will be there to answer that challenge and give it everything we've got. The plan for now is to eat Chic-Fil-A at 12:15 p.m. in the lobby, and then we are going to head back over to the field to watch Mt. Olive play. After that, we will come back to the hotel to rest up before our game tonight. It's going to be a hectic next 24 hours, but I'm looking forward to it. See ya in a few hours.

(7:30 p.m.) In the past few hours, some very interesting things have happened in the tournament. First of all, we witnessed Lander's great comeback win against top-seeded Mount Olive. One of the Lander players put a baseball into orbit in the top of the ninth inning to take a two run lead. The ball hit the top of the lights in right-center field, and as the kid crossed the plate he did the Cam Newton "Superman." The Lander fans erupted with excitement, and they never looked back as they won the game 7-5.

After the game, we left the field and headed back to the hotel to get some rest before our game tonight. On the way back, a few of the guys started playing games on Sporcle.com, which is a really cool web site that literally has any kind of trivia that you could ever imagine. Cody Coffman impressed me with his random knowledge of baseball players from the 70s and 80s, and Eddie Vinas, Lex, and Derb chipped in with their NBA knowledge. Once we arrived back at the hotel, a few of us started to play cards, while others rested, and some played video games. While we were playing cards, we were watching the Mount Olive vs. Catawba game. Catawba surprised everyone by upsetting the host team, giving them their second loss and eliminating Mount Olive from the tournament. Catawba is a great team, and it was not only a huge win for them, but also for our conference. When it comes to baseball, the South Atlantic Conference doesn't get too much respect when it comes to the national spotlight, so it's nice to see another SAC team knock off a highly ranked opponent.

Initially we thought we would be playing at 10 p.m., but now they are telling us that it is going to be "later." So our plan is to meet in the lobby and head over to the field at 9:15 pm, and my guess is that the game will get started around 10:30. This will be the latest start time to a game that I have ever played in. That doesn't change anything though. We still have to go out there and take care of business one game at a time. We will be the visiting team in tonight's matchup against Francis Marion, and we will be wearing grey pants, all black jerseys, and our grey and black hats. Taylor Rakes will be toeing the rubber for us in what will surely be a great game. Francis Marion will be a tough opponent, and I'm sure it'll be a dog fight. The confidence has been building little by little, and we know that if we go out and take care of the little things and play the way that we know we can, then we will win the game.

Since the game will be ending so late tonight, this will be my last blog for the day. If you'd like to follow the game, you can watch live stats or even live video through the Mount Olive.. You can also follow the game on Twitter by following @TusculumSports.

See ya tomorrow Pioneer Nation!

JD HOWARD: We woke up this morning and went straight to work. The hotel provides a hot breakfast every morning so everybody moseyed down to the lobby and got some food before we made our way to the field. After making sure everybody had all their jerseys, we departed and headed to the park.

Once there it was all business. We were up to finish the seventh inning (from yesterday's halted game). Cade Stallings wore a pitch to start us up. Unfortunately he forgot to unhitch the trailer he was pulling and got thrown out moving to second on a ball that got away from the catcher. That didn't stop us though.

That's one special thing about this team. I've never been around a better group of guys that will fight, scrap, claw, and do whatever it takes to win a ball game. Alexi Colon walked, Cody Coffman singled, and Heath Comerford came through with a big sac fly to tie the game. Michael Franklin was huge in relief, getting Catawba 1-2-3 in the eighth and letting our hitters go back to work. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Tripper Crisson led off with a big time single down the third base line. Lukas Graves was the ultimate leader and team guy, as he's been all year, and moved Tripper into scoring position with a nice sac bunt. Aaron Guinn came through in the clutch with an RBI single to give us the lead. Catawba threatened in the ninth, but John-Austin Shepard slammed the door with a little help from Tripper and Nate Reid on defense.

We all were a little excited after the game and I for one was glad to see my family had shown up and caught the end of the game. It was also nice seeing everybody else's family that we've grown close with over the four years I've been here. After socializing a little bit, we got on the bus to head back to the hotel, where we enjoyed the best part about playing on the road: Chick-Fil-A sandwiches, also known as God's gift to fast food.

After a quick lunch, we all got back on the bus to go watch Mount Olive take on Lander. However we were missing a bus driver, so while we waited, Tripper gave us the play by play. When we got there everybody tried to find a seat to watch the game. It was back and forth a while but Mount Olive looked poised for the win. Then came the top of the ninth. The 9-hole hitter for Lander came up with 2 guys on and hit an absolute tank to right field. Jeremy Barnes and Dylan Hochevar might want to look into becoming scouts, because they called the home run as this kid stepped into the box. I guess they saw something nobody else did.

Needless to say everybody is a little excited to get back on the field tonight. After a big win this morning and watching an exciting finish to that game, you can't help but be amped to play this great game again.

I hate to steal a line from Porky the Pig, but as of right now, th th that's all folks. Unless y'all are pulling an all-nighter, we'll have to update you on tonight's game in the morning. Don't worry, we'll be ready. No brakes.

Day 2: May 17, 2012

ERIC CONLEY: (10:00 am) I woke up this morning around 8:15 a.m. feeling refreshed and ready to go. I had a good night of sleep despite Billy Sivyer's snoring and sleep talking all night long. This is something that John Clarke and I have become accustomed to over the course of the season. I'm not sure what he was dreaming about, but right before I turned the television off last night, he blurted out "No, Carlos. No!" He usually is a cover thief as well, but John Clarke said that Siv didn't toss and turn too much last night.

After taking a shower, I made my way down to the lobby for our continental breakfast. I ate two cheese omelets, a few pieces of bacon, and I had a cup of strawberry yogurt. As I ate, I sat and watched Sportscenter with (Aaron) Derb Guinn, while Craig Goodman sat at the computer and talked to me about fantasy baseball trades. He's been trying to get Matt Kemp from me all year long and thinks now that Kemp is on the 15-day DL he'll get him from me without giving up as much. Probably not going to happen…

We are departing from the hotel today at 12:05 p.m., and we are wearing all white pants, new black jerseys, and our oriole hat. We are all anxious to get out on the field and play this afternoon, and I'm sure the next few hours will drag along and seem like forever.

(8:00 p.m.) Well, it ended up being much longer of a day than we had expected, and tomorrow will be even longer. We showed up to the park today around 12:40 p.m. and hit BP as the first game was finishing up. Once that game was completed, both we and Catawba took infield and waited around for the 3:00 p.m. start time. Alexi "no swag" Colon forgot his jersey at our hotel (which is about 30 minutes away from Mount Olive), but luckily Matt Henriksen's dad offered to go pick it up for him. Alexi was worried that Mr. Henriksen wouldn't make it back in time. He had to wear JD Howard's jersey for our pregame infield. It was a little weird seeing him wearing the #39 jersey. About 15 minutes before the introductions, Lex's jersey arrived and he was all set.

After the introductions, the game was ready to begin. Catawba got off to an early 3-0 lead, but we cut the lead to 3-2 at the end of the 6th inning. In the middle of the 7th, dark clouds began to roll in very quickly and the wind picked up significantly. Before Cade could lead off the inning, both teams were escorted off of the field and into the nearby community center. We sat in the hallway of the community center for about 30 minutes as it began to rain. Then we were told to board the bus because we were going to go grab some food while we waited on the rain to pass. We went to the Wendy's right down the road from the college. After we ate, we headed back to the field where we were told that the game for today was going to be halted and resumed tomorrow.

So as of now, that is where we stand. We will begin tomorrow at 9 a.m. The game will be going into the bottom of the 7th inning, and we are down by one run. No matter how the game concludes, we will have to play another game tomorrow as well. It will definitely be a long day, but it's nothing that we can't handle. We just have to stay focused and come out tomorrow morning and stick with the approach. I have faith in our team, and I am confident that we will come out and find a way to win the game tomorrow morning.

We have a meeting at 10 p.m. tonight to go over all of the details for tomorrow's plan, and then everyone will be heading to bed to try to get some rest for tomorrow.

See ya tomorrow Pioneer Nation!

JD HOWARD BLOG: Day two started off pretty slow. We got to sleep in and only had to make an appearance at breakfast by 10 a.m., which sure beat being up before 6:30 a.m. yesterday. I sat behind (Coach) Todd Ireland and (SID) Dom Donnelly at breakfast today and got to listen to Coach go on about one crazy idea or another. All in all it was a pretty normal morning.

Coach (Andy) Collins was blasting Creed as we came on the bus, and later it switched to some even better motivational songs. You can tell its game day again and Coach Jones isn't around (he was at the first game of the regional scouting). I guess (Head Athletic Trainer) Chris Lenker forgot to give Coach Collins his medicine; either that or he switched it with some other substance :-). It was purely accidental of course.

As a team we had a little extra motivation coming in to this regional. It seems like nobody really gives us a chance to win this thing, but we're going to play it one game at a time and continue to do what we've done all year. Take the game one at bat at a time, and one pitch at a time. We came out and struggled to shake the rust off early. An error in the first wound up allowing an extra run to score. Craig Goodman battled for us and pitched in and out of trouble.

We got base runners on all day, but struggled pushing them across to score. It seemed like Aaron Guinn had smashed a home run in the bottom of the first, but the wind stopped the ball dead in its tracks. Our offense did a great job manufacturing a run in the third as Guinn, Cade Stallings, and Alexi Colon all singled and Guinn scored on a nice slide to beat the play at the plate. We pushed another run across in the sixth to pull within one on hits by Carlos Santana and Nate Reid, followed by a sac fly from Tripper Crisson.

And then the rains came. We got to go on a tour of Mount Olive's wellness center. Big shots like Luke Graves, Michael Franklin, and Nate Reid got to chill in the training room while the rest of the scrubs had to sit out in the hallways and find other ways to entertain ourselves. Coach Collins' son, Avery, helped out with that. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. When we realized the rain was here to stay we took a team trip to Wendy's to get some food. Stallings turned out to be Wendy's worst nightmare as he ate through the whole store and then about started gnawing on the table. They just had to let the big dog eat.

After everything, the game wound up getting pushed back until tomorrow morning, so we'll just have to finish what we started in the morning. No brakes.

Day 1: May 16, 2012

ERIC CONLEY BLOG: We began our NCAA Regional journey early this morning with a 7:00 a.m. departure from Pioneer Park. As everyone rolled into the clubhouse around 6:30, we were greeted by Coach Andy Collins with biscuits from Hardees. I made the only logical choice of a breakfast sandwich…the bacon, egg, and cheese. Once we loaded up the bus with all of our equipment and luggage, mostly everyone decided to close their eyes and catch some z's.

When I awoke from my early morning nap, the guys had already put a DVD in and were watching the ESPN series "The Bronx is Burning." I had never watched the show, but found it very interesting and quite comical how George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin interacted with one another. Halfway through the trip, we pulled off at a North Carolina rest stop to stretch and take a restroom break.

When we got back on the bus, most of the guys were awake for good. Many of us continued watching "The Bronx is Burning," while some began to play Spades (a very common occurrence on our bus trips).

As we were nearing the hotel, an interesting conversation came up between the guys on the back of the bus. Aaron "Derb" Guinn began to tell me a story about how it is now legal to hunt Bigfoot in Texas, and this led to the debate of if Bigfoot existed or not. By this time, a few of the guys had chipped in their opinions. Derb, Dylan Hochevar, and Michael Franklin all took the side of Bigfoot's existence, while Pat Holleran, Adam Sigmon, and myself voiced our opinions of how we believed it was just myth. In the long run, we agreed to disagree.

When we arrived at our hotel, The Hampton Inn in Goldsboro, NC, the coaches gave us our lunch. We were given two Chic-Fil-A sandwiches with fries and they also had drinks for us. We were all anxious to get off of the bus and get up to our rooms and relax before our 5:00 pm practice session at Mt. Olive College. However, when we arrived, our rooms were not ready, so we had to hang out in the lobby for about 45 minutes. A lot of the guys began to play a card game called "Push" that we learned earlier in the year, while the others sat in the lobby and watched Sportscenter.

Once we arrived at Mount Olive, we all departed from the bus, walked over to the field, and began to stretch. It was a light practice that consisted of a shortened round of batting practice and a quick session of our infield/outfield box. In BP today, Cade Stallings put on an absolute show. He hit six or seven monstrous home runs as some of the Mount Olive players sat and watched in amazement. As a team, I think we really swung the bat well today, and we also had a solid round of infield.

Heading into tomorrow's first round matchup against conference rival Catawba, I feel like we are anxious to get back on the field and prove to everyone that we belong here. We are confident heading into the game. Coach Jones keeps telling us that we just have to go out there and execute the little things and play the game with the same focus, effort, and intensity that we have all year. If we do this, everything else will fall into place.

Time for bed. See you tomorrow Pioneer Nation!

JD HOWARD BLOG: The first day of our NCAA regional has been a long one. We all left Greeneville at around seven this morning. Hopefully everybody remembered everything because I'm not sure too many people were wide-awake and functional that early in the morning, myself included. I know one of my roommates struggled to pull it together this morning, but we wound up not leaving anybody behind. Needless to say, the first part of our bus ride was pretty quiet, as most of the guys went right back to sleep, which for some guys it could basically be described as a sort of mild comatose state.

We all knew the trip to Mount Olive was going to be a long one, and some of the guys were pretty good about bringing movies along to keep everybody entertained. We got to watch "A Few Good Men" first because apparently some guys hadn't seen it, which really makes you wonder. I guess they just don't have movies in certain parts of the country. Here I was thinking that was just a West Virginia thing. The stuff you learn on road trips. About the only other thing people did on the bus was play cards. According to TJ Abounader, if the regional came down to a card game we would win big, and I think I'd have to agree. Some of our guys could probably do well quitting baseball and sticking with cards.

All kidding aside, when we got to Mount Olive we had a little time to rest and relax before team practice. That is of course if you were lucky enough to get a room. The hotel we are staying at had been booked solid for a while and the staff was hard at work cleaning and preparing all the rooms. I have the privilege to room with Zeke McGranahan and Jeremy Barnes while we are at the regional. Of course we were the lucky ones to be the last to get a room. I wish everybody could have seen Barnes' face when we opened the door to find one bed that it looked like the three of us would be sharing. Luckily there was a pullout couch.

At practice we took in and out and hit on the field. The guys looked real good. For the most part everybody seemed to be ripping the cover off the ball. Even Vinny Ferrara would end up hitting a bomb. Too bad it was foul. Tomorrow should be a good game and we seem to be ready to go. In the wise words of Joe Polichetti, "Hum babe," It's time to go to work. No brakes.

- NCAA -