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News
Cougars Hoping Third Time's the Charm in
NAIA Opening Round
written by Dave Parsons, Sports Information Director
BRACKET
MARION, Ind. (5-9-2012) - The Mount Vernon
Nazarene University baseball team will make
its third straight appearance in the NAIA
National Championship Opening Round when the
Marion Bracket gets under way on Thursday at
noon at Indiana Wesleyan University.
The Cougars (33-18), who earned an
automatic bid by sweeping through the
Mid-Central College Conference Tournament
last week, are the No. 4 seed in the
five-team, double elimination bracket and
will square off with No. 5 seeded Doane
(Neb.) College (33-19) in the first game of
the tournament on Thursday.
MVNU has
posted a good combination of balanced
hitting and a solid pitching staff this
season as the Cougars rank eighth in the
NAIA in team batting (.340) and 15th in team
ERA (3.36). Junior shortstop Jordan Doherty
(.375, 28 RBI), sophomore third baseman Jeff
Stone (.366, 48 RBI), senior first baseman
Josh Roberts (.361, 35 RBI), freshman
outfielder Jake Dickerson (.355, 39 RBI),
sophomore designated hitter Seth Eller
(.349, 33 RBI), sophomore outfielder Robert
Kane (.341, 30 RBI), freshman catcher Clint
Spencer (.333, 14 RBI), and freshman second
baseman Sterling Harpst (.319, 25 RBI)
anchor the potent offense attack. Meanwhile,
senior right-hander Kyle Barr (8-2, 1.71
ERA), sophomore right-hander Mike Kochheiser
(7-1, 3.21 ERA), junior lefty Justin Brown
(6-4, 3.80 ERA), and senior right-hander
Darren Athey (5-1, 4.25 ERA) have proven to
be a solid starting rotation with senior
right-hander Jeff Estep (4-2, 2.35 ERA, 4
saves), senior right-hander Jerrob Decker
(2-2, 4.82), and Eller (0-2, 5.19 ERA) ready
to come out of the bullpen.
Doane
advanced to the NAIA National Championship
Opening Round by virtue of being the Great
Plains Athletic Conference regular-season
champion. The Tigers boast a solid pitching
staff that has limited the opposition to a
.235 batting average while posting a 3.42
team ERA. Tim Carlson (9-1, 2.00 ERA),
Chance Brull (8-3, 1.71 ERA), and Elliott
Engle (7-2, 2.91 ERA) are the top three
starters for Doane. Offensively, the Tigers
are led by Mike Albert (.331, 40 RBI) and
Anthony Hincy (.331, 29 RBI) who have
combined to steal 53 bases in 60 attempts.
Doane is batting .293 as a team.
The
winner of the game between MVNU and Doane
will advance to an 8 p.m. meeting with
top-seeded Concordia (Calif.) University in
the winner's bracket. The Eagles (37-16),
who are ranked No. 9 in the latest NAIA
poll, are the defending NAIA national
champions and earned their berth as the
Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament
champion. Concordia features a potent
offensive lineup that includes John Doering
(.390, 12 RBI), Spencer Ofelt (.378, 21
RBI), Kyle Konicek (.359, 41 RBI), and Aaron
Gates (.347, 41 RBI, 11 home runs). On the
mound, Thomas Hoenshell (7-2, 4.06 ERA),
Brent Clapper (7-2, 4.20 ERA), and Jake
Hovis (6-4, 3.70 ERA) lead a staff that has
posted a 4.62 team ERA.
Thursday's
second game will feature No. 2 seed Point
Park (Pa.) University (48-7) versus No. 3
seed Taylor (Ind.) University (37-18) at 4
p.m. Point Park is making its first-ever
appearance in the NAIA National Championship
Opening Round, while Taylor returns after
qualifying last in 2010 and earned its berth
as the MCC regular-season champion.
Friday's action will begin at noon with a
loser's bracket game between the MVNU-Doane
loser and the Point Park-Taylor loser. Then,
the final winner's bracket game will be
played at 4 p.m. before another elimination
game takes place at 8 p.m. Two games are
slated for Saturday and an if necessary game
would take place on Monday.
Admission
to the tournament is $10 for adults and $5
for students with a valid ID each day or a
tournament pass can be purchased for $25.
All of MVNU's games will be carried live on
WNZR 90.9 FM and online at
http://www.wnzr.fm/studio/sports.php on
WNZR 1.
In addition to the Marion
Bracket, there are eight other NAIA National
Championship Opening Round events taking
place. The nine opening round winners will
join host Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) College
in the 2012 Avista-NAIA World Series.
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