Crusaders ride 14-game win streak into NAIA Tournament

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - It should come as no surprise to see William Carey back in the NAIA Baseball Tournament.

The Crusaders ride a 14-game win streak into the postseason which included four victories at the SSAC Championship to capture their second straight conference title.

“We’re just working together honestly,” said junior pitcher AJ Stinson, a Hattiesburg grad. “Hitting’s coming around, pitching’s coming around. Everything’s just falling into place.”

“We’ve been hitting the ball very well, we’ve been throwing well,” said sophomore outfielder RJ Stinson. “We’re getting multiple hits, multiple runs and we just want to carry that into the tournament and we did.”

“Yeah just expect to win,” said senior third baseman Wiley Cleland, a Columbia Academy grad. “We come out here and we know we can. That’s the big difference, just knowing we can do it and having that confidence every time we go out that we’re going to come out on top.”

“We knew we had the team that could do this and we’ve been preparing for this all year,” said head coach Bobby Halford, now in his 37th season. “Some of these guys of course have been through it before and they understand what it takes. And they kind of up their game and that’s what’s happened the last three weeks.”

William Carey (37-15) opens the Lawrenceville Bracket as a No. 3 seed vs. No. 2 seed Georgia Gwinnett on Monday in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

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