Thanks again Tornado fans, and hopefully we’ll see your sons back in the red, white and blue again next summer!

Lake Norman (24-16) remains one game ahead of the Morganton Aggies (24-18) with the Aggies’ regular season over and only one game left on the Copperheads’ schedule.  As such, Lake Norman is No. 2 in this week’s postseason tournament, while Morganton takes the No. 3 seed.

The Tennessee Tornado clinched the No. 1 seed Saturdy with their sweep of the Spartanburg Blue Eagles, while the Carolina Stingers turned the tables on the top team by sweeping the Tornado in Johnson City yesterday to earn the No. 4 seed at the tournament.

Day 1 of the tournament is Thursday at Milligan College in Johnson City.  Days 2 and 3 take place at Cardinal Park.  Fans can continue to follow the Tennessee Tornado and the three other teams in the tournament at scbl.wordpress.com.

The Stingers (19-22), who ended their season on a four-game road winning streak, are now out of reach of the Carolina Chaos, who stand at 17-23 with just two games to play.  They still have to play, however, because they figure in the final seeding decision between the Lake Norman Copperheads (23-16) and Morganton Aggies (24-18).

Lake Norman has to lose both of their last games, one tonight at Asheville and one tomorrow night against the Chaos at home, for the Aggies to overtake them for the No. 2 seed.  Morganton’s season ended Saturday on a three-game winning streak as they swept the Chaos in Clemson, S.C.

Tennessee clinched their No. 1 seed with a sweep against the Spartanburg Blue Eagles (17-23) Saturday, and the two teams’ scheduled Tuesday night game at Milligan College may be cancelled, as it doesn’t figure in the standings or seedings.

Last year, Morganton came into the double-elimination tournament as the No. 2 seed and lost twice to Lake Norman, while Spartanburg dominated the Southern Division during the regular season and played as the No. 4, losing a tough contest to Tennessee on Day 1 and then again in the loser’s bracket against Morganton on Day 2.

Looking ahead to Thursday’s matchup between No. 1 Tennessee and No. 4 Carolina, the Stingers may hold the high card after their sweep at Cardinal Park yesterday.  Stingers pitching held Tennessee to 12 hits and one run in both games, and even more impressive, Tennessee left a combined 20 runners on base in the doubleheader and they were 0-23 with runners in scoring position.

In the 2-3 matchup, however the seedings are decided, the Aggies may have the advantage, as they swept Lake Norman on their home field July 12 by a combined score of 22-4.  In that doubleheader, the Copperheads stranded nine and went 3-12 with runners in scoring position.

Day 1 happens Thursday at Milligan College here.  For more information and directions, log onto scbl.wordpress.com.

In Game 1, starter Mark Peterson worked a solid seven innings allowing one run on five hits, while Shane Grimm allowed a run in relief to tie the game at 1-1.  After the fifth inning, the game lurched on into extra innings — five to be exact — until Sean Albury’s scoreless streak came to an end at 17 innings.  He allowed the winning run to score in the top of the 12th inning, falling to 0-2 on the season, while Stingers reliever Cole Moore held off a Tornado comeback to improve to 2-1.

Game 2 went much the same for Stingers pitching, as Stewart Curry worked six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts to improve his record to 2-1.  Kyle Bolton allowed two runs in the fourth inning but the Tornado bats couldn’t come back, dropping Bolton to 4-2 for the year.

In the two games, Tennessee stranded 20 men on base and went a combined 0-22 with runners in scoring position, only amounting to one run all day.  The losses drop the Tornado to 26-15, while the Stingers improve to 20-22, possibly putting the teams in position to face one another on Day 1 of the tournament.

While the Stingers’ regular season comes to an end, the Tornado still have a chance to finish on a high note Tuesday as they face Spartanburg at 7 p.m. at Milligan College.

Hello fans once again, John Stevens with you here on a Sunday evening at the ballpark, Tennessee Tornado baseball exclusively on Teamline!

Only two more days to play in the regular season, so if you haven’t joined in our Gameday Forum yet, leave a comment tonight!

– John Stevens

In Game 1, Tyler Deetjen pitched five scoreless innings to improve to 2-1 on the season, while Frank Newcomb worked two innings allowing one run.  Offensively, the Tornado jumped out to an early lead in the first inning with RBIs by Sam Eberle, Jean Carlos Diaz and Jay Davis.  They added two more runs in the fourth inning.

Delwynn Patterson carried a hot-hitting day into Game 2, as he went 5-5 with a double, a walk, and the only run scored in the night-cap on a Bart Roark double.

In a tight game against Andonios Constantatos, Tennessee looked to Johnson City righty Aaron Dorriety, who tossed a complete game three-hitter in his last appearance against Spartanburg.  Last night, he went 6 1-3 innings allowing only one hit and striking out nine Blue Eagles, improving to 4-2.  Sean Albury came in to pitch for a scout in attendance, and he struck out the last two batters on only six pitches to record his second save and increase his scoreless streak to 15 1-3 innings.

Tennessee faces Spartanburg again Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Milligan College in the season finale, where the Blue Eagles may well be fighting for their postseason lives, as they now trail the Carolina Chaos at 1.5 games out of fourth place.  First for Tennessee, however, they’ll host the Carolina Stingers today at a special time, 3 p.m. for the first pitch of the double-header, at Cardinal Park.

Tomorrow’s doubleheader between the Tennessee Tornado and the Carolina Stingers begins at 3 p.m. at Cardinal Park.  Listeners should ignore the time posted on www.scbl.org.  The Tornado Gameday Forum opens officially at 2:45 p.m.

Tuesday’s season finale with the Spartanburg Blue Eagles is scheduled for 7 p.m. but will happen at Milligan College’s Anglin Field, as the Johnson City Cardinals play a game at Cardinal Park.

From Cardinal Park in Johnson City, Tenn., John Stevens and Whitney Page present the stretch run of the 2009 regular season, Tornado baseball live on Teamline.

Thanks for your patronage all season, and please feel free to send us your sentiments on our live gameday forum.

– John Stevens

Tennessee trailed Spartanburg 5-0 in the third inning of Game 1 last Sunday when rains washed out the evening.  Previously, they’d split the season series 2-2, all games at Spartanburg.  Tennessee plays the Blue Eagles three times in the next four nights at Cardinal Park.  Tonight’s first pitch happens at 5 p.m.