Baseball Tournament Set to Start Friday

Baseball Tournament Set to Start Friday

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Donnie Smith

Tournament Headquarters
FORT MYERS, Fla.—Once again, the top six Sun Conference baseball teams will head to City of Palms Park to vie for the league’s lone automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament.
 
Defending tournament champion Keiser enters the four-day, double-elimination tournament as the top seed. The Seahawks finished second in the conference in slugging percentage at .461, and are 10th in the nation in earned run average at 3.33. They closed the season winning nine of their last 11 games.
 
Individually, Daniel Garmendia posted the best ERA in the conference at 2.11. He’s won his last six Sun Conference starts, going at least six innings in five of them, with at least five strikeouts.
 
The Seahawks will meet No. 6 seed Thomas in the first game of the tournament at 11 a.m.
 
The Night Hawks are 36-12 this season, and are led by Tanner Elsbernd, who hit .360 in conference play. He’s also hit 11 doubles in 23 conference games and has driven in 21 runs.
 
Keiser won all three regular season meetings in Thomasville February 10th and 11th by the scores of 11-0, 7-6, and 7-2. KU was one of the two teams in conference able to take all three games of a series against the Night Hawks.  
 
Southeastern finished second in the regular season, and will meet 2016 regular season champion USCB on Friday at 3 p.m. The Fire recorded its best start in program history with 16 straight wins, and won 28 of their first 30 games.
 
Southeastern led The Sun Conference in batting average (.334), RBIs per game (6.77), ERA (3.22), and tied for first in fielding percentage at .964. Seniors Luis Diaz (.396) and Mike D’Acunti (.388) finished first and second in the league in batting average.
 
The Sand Sharks are 32-20 this season, and were third in the league in batting average at .317. Bobby Wenthe is on a 13-game Sun Conference hit streak, and has posted a .424 average in league play. He has a hit in 21 of 24 conference games with nine homers, 12 doubles, and a triple.
 
SEU won all three games in Hardeeville February 10th and 11th by the scores of 8-5, 19-9, and 5-2.
 
No. 3 seed Webber International will face No. 4 St. Thomas in the final game of the day, with the first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
The Warriors are closing in on their best record in program history, posting 36 wins this season. WIU won 20 of its first 23 games. In conference play, Webber posted a .274 team batting average and .403 team slugging percentage.
 
Webber took 2-of-3 during the weekend series March 31st and April 1st, scoring a total of 26 runs during the series.
 
St. Thomas outscored its conference opponents 174-96 this year, hitting .297 with a .419 slugging percentage. Erne Valdes threw 47 innings in TSC play, posting a 6-1 record with a 3.06 ERA. He’s pitched at least five innings in seven of his eight conference starts, posting eight or more strikeouts in five of them.
 
Live stats and video will be available via Stretch Internet. The championship game is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Monday.