Jase Felker is a junior at the University of Kentucky after spending three seasons at Rend Lake College. (UK Athletics photo)
Seven former Caldwell County Tigers are on college baseball rosters as the 2022 college season gets underway.
One of those Tigers, Jase Felker, will play for the University of Kentucky after a three-year run at Rend Lake College.
Meanwhile, Caldwell grads returning to their college teams include Shane Burns at Murray State, Bryce Thomas at Northern Kentucky, Cody Holub at Kentucky Christian and John Davis at Midway University.
Noah Brown has returned to Asbury while Tate VanHooser is a freshman at Rend Lake.
Felker, an infielder, will look to play his way into the lineup at Kentucky after a sterling season last year at Rend Lake.
In 2021, he batted .414 in 140 at-bats, the highest average of any player on the team with 80 or more at-bats. Felker led Rend Lake in hits (58), triples (three), home runs (10), RBIs (55), walks (26), on-base percentage (.509), slugging (.736) and extra-base hits (22). His 10 homers were six more than anyone else on the roster.
Felker, who will be playing as a junior this season, spent last summer with the Waynesboro Generals of the Valley Baseball League alongside UK teammate Alonzo Rubalcaba. He collected 15 hits with nine runs scored, eight runs batted in, two doubles, a triple and a home run in 63 at-bats.
The Cats are entering their sixth season under head coach Nick Mingione. UK went 29-23 last season. The SEC Coaches Preseason Poll ranked the Wildcats sixth in the Eastern Division.
Kentucky opens its season in Alabama with a three-game series at Jacksonville State Friday-Sunday. The home opener is set for Tuesday against Southeast Missouri State.
Burns and his Murray State Racers begin the 2022 season at home with three games scheduled against Butler this Friday-Sunday.
Murray State has been picked to finish second in the 2022 Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Poll, behind only defending champion Southeast Missouri.
The Racers had a memorable season in 2021, going 33-28 overall last season before the year ended in the OVC Championship game for the first time since 2003. The Racers won a program record 18 OVC games last season.
Burns, a junior this year, made a team-high 14 starts last year and went 1-3. He pitched 60 innings, allowing 75 hits with a 6.75 ERA. He struck out 43 and walked 42.
Burns goes into this season with an arm issue that will limit his number of pitches. Because of that, Burns will begin the year in the Racer bullpen with hopes of returning to a starting role later in the season.
Thomas is listed as a senior infielder at Northern Kentucky University in Highlands Heights. He started his college career at Rend Lake before joining the Norse last season.
Thomas hit .186 in 27 games played and 17 starts in 2021. He scored 10 times and drove in another 10 runs.
He also made one pitching appearance, allowing no runs on one hit in one inning of work.
Thomas and the Norse open 2022 at East Tennessee State. The teams have a three-game series set for Friday-Sunday in Johnson City. Northern Kentucky then heads to Mississippi State for a three-game set the following weekend against the No. 3-ranked Bulldogs.
NKU went 17-31 last season. The Norse have been tabbed fifth this season in the Horizon League Preseason Poll.
The college season began last weekend for several former Tigers.
Holub is off to a strong start with his Kentucky Christian University team.
Holub is a sophomore infielder at the NAIA school in Grayson.
Kentucky Christian swept four games from visiting Brescia last Friday and Saturday.
Holub had a big game in the Knight’s season-opening 17-4 win. He was 3-for-4 with a double and scored three runs while driving in two more. Overall, Holub was 8-for-14 in the series with three doubles and three RBIs.
Kentucky Christian moved to 5-0 with a 20-16 win over Ohio Christian on Wednesday. Holub’s bat stayed hot, going 3-for-5 with two doubles, an RBI and a stolen base.
Kentucky Christian has a three-game home series this Friday-Saturday against Johnson University.
Davis is a sophomore right-handed pitcher at Midway University where he plays for another former Tiger in Eagles head coach Luther Bramblett.
Davis has made 17 appearances on the mound the last two seasons at Midway, going 0-1 with a 5.96 ERA.
Midway, an NAIA school which competes in the River States Conference, is off to an 0-8 start this season, but five of those losses have been against ranked opponents — three against No. 1 Georgia Gwinnett College.
Davis pitched 1.1 innings on Tuesday in a home loss to Campbellsville. He allowed two earned runs on three base hits.
Meanwhile, Bramblett is beginning his sixth season as the head coach at Midway. He was hired as the first-ever head baseball coach at Midway University in July 2016 and started the program for the 2017 season.
The Eagles have a four-game home set scheduled against No. 15 Indiana Wesleyan on Saturday and Sunday.
Brown, another former Tiger who began his career at Rend Lake, is now a junior at Asbury University in Wilmore, where he is an infielder and pitcher.
Brown and the Eagles are 1-2 after a season-opening series against Thomas University (Ga.) last weekend in action in Hoover, Ala.
Brown was 1-for-2 with a double and an RBI in game one, then pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, allowing just one base hit, in a 6-3 win in game two. Brown was 1-for-4 in game three.
Asbury is an NCAA Div. III school. The Eagles are scheduled to play two games this weekend in Berea, facing Grove City College on Saturday and Berea College on Sunday.
VanHooser saw his first action for Rend Lake College last weekend.
The Warriors went 2-2, splitting doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday in Millington, Tenn.
VanHooser went 1-for-3 with a stolen base while starting at first base in a 4-2 loss to Columbia State on Saturday.
He also played first base in Sunday’s 5-0 loss to Dyersburg State.
Rend Lake, located in Ina, Ill., will be mostly road-warriors to start the season, with 19 road or neutral-site games in a row.
The Warriors are set to play four games Saturday and Sunday at No. 5-ranked Walters State Community College in Morristown, Tenn.
The first home game will be Monday, March 7, against Kankakee Community College.
