2006 SIUE Baseball - Cougars Refocus Goals

		Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Baseball	SIUE Baseball SIUE Athletics

April 24, 2006

Baseball Doubleheader Moved to Thursday
        The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville baseball doubleheader against Great Lakes Valley Conference foe Missouri-Rolla scheduled for Tuesday has been moved to Thursday. It remains a 2 p.m. start at Roy Lee Field.

Cheek Named GLVC Pitcher of the Week
        Southern Illinois University Edwardsville senior Cameron Cheek (Atlanta) is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week after he tossed a shutout Sunday over Kentucky Wesleyan College to give the SIUE pitching staff the NCAA Division II record for shutouts in a season.
        The 17th shutout of the season was a 4-0 win over the Panthers. The old record was 16 by Central Missouri State last season.
        Cheek struck out six and walked none in his fourth complete-game shutout of the season. He is a native of Atlanta, Ill.
        SIUE plays host to the Missouri-Rolla for a doubleheader Thursday at 2 p.m.

SIUE Baseball Refocusing Goals
        With a seven-game winning streak and 13 wins in its last 14 outings, the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville baseball team is repositioning itself.
        SIUE Coach Gary Collins said the Cougars have been hard to defeat lately, with a combination of strong pitching, ranked No. 1 in the nation in earned run average, as well as a solid defense and improving offense.
        The Cougars are 32-12-1 overall and 25-11-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. SIUE’s 25 GLVC wins is the most ever since the Cougars first played in the league in 1996.
        With 10 games left in the regular season and the GLVC Tournament May 11-14 in Sauget looming, Collins said his team’s focus is adjusting.
        “Our focus is to put ourselves in a position to get in the NCAA Regional Tournament,” said Collins.
        SIUE is scheduled to face Missouri-Rolla Thursday at 2 p.m. at Roy Lee Field and then travel to Louisville, Ky., this weekend for a four-game series Saturday and Sunday with Bellarmine.
        The Cougars broke the NCAA record for shutouts in a season with 17, eclipsing the mark set by Central Missouri State last season. Cameron Cheek (Atlanta) tossed a seven-hit shutout for his fourth complete-game shutout of the season.
        Collins said that while the pitching has been the obvious key to SIUE’s success this season, it has been the defense and the offense over the last 20 games that has stepped up.
        Jeff Darnall (Atlanta) leads the Cougars in hitting with a .338 batting average. Collins also pointed to Jim Grant (Elwood), Kyle Amerson (Springfield), and Michael DalPozzo (Livingston) for having recent success at the plate.
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