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SIUE Baseball Returns to Montgomery
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville turned a reversal of fortune into a trip to the final eight in Montgomery, Ala. One week after suffering a doubleheader sweep at home to Indianapolis to lose the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship, SIUE handed the same fate back to Indianapolis this past weekend at the NCAA Division II North Central Regional in Indianapolis. SIUE fell into the consolation bracket of the regional tournament with a 6-2 loss to host Indianapolis and then fought its way back into a title matchup with Indianapolis one day later with a 12-2 elimination win over Ashland. On Saturday, SIUE had to sweep the Greyhounds, 51-15, to advance to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championships. Bret Giaudrone (Gillespie) pulled off one of the most impressive pitching performances in school history Sunday. The reliever threw the final 3 2/3 innings to record his SIUE record 14th save. In game two, SIUE Coach Gary Collins kept going with Giaudrone and rode the lefty with a nine-inning complete game. Giaudrone struck out seven in the second game without allowing a walk. He scattered eight hits and kept Indianapolis at bay. It was Giaudrone’s first starting pitching assignment of the season. SIUE’s offense was spectacular at times. The Cougars ripped 74 hits in five NCAA Division II North Central Regional games and scored 47 runs. Mark Bugger (Edwardsville) unofficially broke the NCAA Division II record for hits with an RBI double in the first inning of the first game of the regional tournament. Bugger leads the Cougars with a .412 batting average, including a school-record 105 hits. Chad Opel (Edwardsville) has 100 hits after collecting 13 hits in his last five games. His .385 batting average has helped him break the single-season runs scored record with 79 and counting. Dave Crouthers (Edwardsville), the Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Year, not only picked up his ninth win of the season in an 18-8 triumph over Saginaw Valley State but also set records for runs batted in (80) as a hitter and strikeouts (110) as a pitcher. Luke Humphrey (Rantoul), the Co-Freshman of the Year in the GLVC, improved his batting average to .284 and was one of six players on the regional tournament’s all-tournament team. Steve Berra (St. Charles, Mo.) was the sixth member of the team as a designated hitter. Berra was 8 of 18 for the weekend and improved his season average to .287. With eight teams now left in the nation, SIUE ranks as the clear underdog. The Cougars were the No. 3 seed in the regional tournament and were unranked in the national poll previous to the regional tournament. The people maintaining the web site connected to the tournament even call SIUE’s bracket “The Bracket of Death.” SIUE (40-25) faces No.1-ranked Tampa (49-8) in game one of the double-elimination tournament at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The other two teams in SIUE’s side of the eight-team bracket include No. 4 North Florida (45-15) and No. 5 Delta State (47-9). The other four teams in the final eight include No. 2 Central Missouri State (49-8) against No. 14 Massachusetts-Lowell (38-17) and No. 16 Kutztown (38-17) against No. 3 St. Mary’s (46-11). Someone obviously took notice of SIUE’s victory on Sunday and ranked the Cougars No. 12 in the final Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division II poll. The Cougars have not been among the top 20 all season. “It’s been a roller-coaster season,” said Collins. The Cougars were 13-14 at one point in the season when Collins issued a challenge to his ballclub. The team responded with a 13-game winning streak which helped put the team in position to host the GLVC Tournament and eventually make the 32-team field of the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars take some interesting stories into Montgomery, Ala. This is SIUE’s eighth appearance at the finals and the 20th in the NCAA tournament overall. SIUE’s best finish was second in 1976. This is Collins’ fifth trip as a head coach to the national finals with the last coming in 1997. Collins also took the finals journey in 1983, 1985 and 1991. Tampa may have some bulletin board material against the Cougars as Bugger passed two former Tampa players en route to the all-time hits record. Bugger passed Ronnie Merrill (1997-2000) and Eric Mirza (1995-1998). SIUE also has several players who are battle tested in state championships. Five local players also were members of the team which won the 1998 American Legion World Series. They are Matt Evers, Nick Seibert, Todd Haug, Opel and Crouthers. Assistant Coach Steve Haug also was part of the coaching staff of that team. -siue- |