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Tennessee State is bringing baseball back as an NCAA-sanctioned sport

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8 months ago

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Tennessee State is bringing baseball back as an NCAA-sanctioned sport

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Baseball is coming back to Tennessee State.

President Glenda Glover and athletic director Mikki Allen confirmed the sport will return to the Historically Black College and University as early as 2025 and no later than 2028.

In order to remain compliant with Title IX guidelines, TSU will also add women’s soccer, swimming and diving in that same span of time.

TSU announced last year it was adding hockey and hopes to begin play in the 2024-25 season.

“This is a shock to me and I am extremely excited that they’re bringing baseball back,” said Anthony Law, who played on TSU’s last baseball team in 1993 and is now the football coach at Stratford. “Hopefully they’ll bring some kids from Nashville to the team so that they can stay here and compete.”

TSU’s baseball program was shut down due to lack of funding after the 1993 season. The Tigers finished last or next-to-last in each of their final six seasons after joining the Ohio Valley Conference in 1988.

A fundraising effort was made in the fall of 1993 to restore the program.

TSU president James Heffner contacted National League president Bill White to inform him about the program’s struggles. White got in touch with star players Hank Aaron and Willie Stargell and the trio attended a dinner to kick off the fundraising effort. Nashville native and former Negro Leagues star Butch McCord also helped with the effort.

The $125,000 TSU was putting into its baseball program annually at the time was not enough to sustain it. The AD at the time, Bill Thomas, said it would take at least twice that much to keep the program afloat.

Tiger Field, the location on campus where the team played, was in bad shape. The centerfield was sinking due to foundation issues and there were no dugouts, a scoreboard or lights.

The fundraising effort was unsuccessful and the program has remained dormant since then.

“It was heartbreaking at the time,” Law said. “We did a couple of things with coach Butch McCord and Major League Baseball. All those guys were behind us, but it just wasn’t enough. There just wasn’t enough money.”

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Memphis’ Jonathan Pierre transferring to Belmont

Former Memphis basketball forward Jonathan Pierre announced on Instagram he is transferring to Belmont.

Pierre, a native of Hallandale, Florida, is a 6-foot-9 junior, who saw action in 19 games and started in one for Memphis this past season. He averaged 1.8 points and 0.7 rebounds.

Belmont lost three of its best players after the 2023-24 season to the transfer portal − Cade Tyson, Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Malik Dia. Tyson visited Tennessee earlier this month, Gillespie transferred to Maryland and Dia, who played at Vanderbilt in 2022-23, transferred to Ole Miss.

TSU using search firm to identify next women’s basketball coach

TSU has retained Collegiate Consulting to help find its next women’s basketball coach. Ty Evans resigned on April 4 after four seasons.

Collegiate Consulting began its search for Evans’ replacement last week.

TSU went 11-19 and finished eighth in the OVC with an 7-11 record in 2023-24.

If you have an item for Midstate Chatter contact Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on @MikeOrganWriter.

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