Baseball

Baseball Headed to Indianapolis For NCAA Tournament
         Despite finishing in second place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament, the Cougars are headed to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the 20th time and the first since 1998.
         “We are happy to get into the regionals,” said Coach Gary Collins. “It has been three years since we have made it.”
         The Cougars, 36-24 overall, earned the No. 3 seed in the NCAA North Central Regional in Indianapolis, Ind. SIUE faces No. 2 Saginaw Valley State, 37-11, in the first round at 3 p.m. on Thursday. The No. 1 seed went to host Indianapolis, 49-13, while Ashland rounds out the regional as the No. 4 seed with a 37-16 record.
         “We certainly feel that we can win it,” Collins said. The winner of the eight regional tournament advance to the NCAA Division II finals in Montgomery, Ala., on May 26-June 2.
         The Cougars walked their way into the GLVC Tournament bracket with three straight wins over Missouri-St. Louis (6-3), Southern Indiana (4-2) and Northern Kentucky (1-0). SIUE dropped its first game to Indianapolis 1-0 and were forced to play a second game for the GLVC championship. The Cougars couldn’t get hits at opportune times and fell to Indianapolis 6-2 in the second game.
         “We are disappointed we couldn’t bring home the championship. We had it in our grasps but let it slip away. We just didn’t get the timely hitting and that was the downfall.”
         Despite the results, Collins said this was a well-played and tough tournament.
         “This is the best tournament I have ever been involved in. Out of the 11 games, 10 games went down to the wire.”
         Collins credits his pitching for getting the team deep into the tournament.
         “Four starters did a really good job. Josh Clark’s (Olalla, Wash.) was outstanding.”
         Clark pitched a complete game shutout against Northern Kentucky to help the Cougars advance to the championship bracket. In nine innings, Clark scattered five hits and struck out six batters to improve his record to 5-2.
         Dave Crouthers (Edwardsville), Matt Wilkinson (Melbourne, Australia) and Nick Seibert (Worden) also had solid outings. Crouthers and Wilkinson picked up the first two wins of the tournament.
         Seibert pitched the first game on Sunday, going seven innings, giving up two hits and one unearned run while striking out five batters.
         “Nick threw a wonderful game only to lose because we couldn’t score.”
         Collins also gives credit to Bret Giaudrone (Gillespie) for a solid performance in relief.
         NCAA North Central Baseball Regional
Thursday, May 17
Game 1 - Indianapolis vs. Ashland, 11 a.m.
Game 2 - Saginaw Valley vs. SIUE, 3 p.m.

Friday, May 18
Game 3 - Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 9 a.m.
Game 4 - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 12:15 p.m.
Game 5 - Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 3:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 19
Game 6 - Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, Noon
Game 7 - Following Game 6 if necessary