2016 NCAA II Central Region Baseball Tournament
The University of Minnesota Duluth will return to St. Cloud, Minnesota for the second straight week beginning Wednesday as the team prepares for its second-ever trip to the NCAA II Central Region Tournament. The Bulldogs take on Emporia State (Kan.) University in the opening round of the eight team, double elimination playoff for a spot in the 2016 NCAA II Championships in Cary, N.C. on May 28 - June 4.
No. 20 UMD (39-14) will continue its historic season in the Regional for the first time since 2003. With a victory at the tournament, the Bulldogs will be guaranteed three more games and match the team's all-time record for games in a season (56). UMD's last trip to the regional ended with a pair of defeats against the University of Central Missouri and Northwest Missouri State University.
SCOUTING THE HORNETS | 37-17
Emporia State earned a spot in its third-straight regional after a second place finish in the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association regular season ... the Hornets were ousted from the MIAA Tournament by eventual runner-up Missouri Western State University, falling 6-5 and 7-3 in back-to-back outings ... junior left-hander Tyler Stubbefield, a transfer from NCAA Division I Texas A&M University, will take the mound against UMD. He posted a 2.57 ERA and 9-1 record in 15 games including 13 starts this season, striking out 90 in 94.2 innings ... senior right-hander Garrett Brummett has appeared in 21 games mostly out of the bullpen totalling five saves on the year, striking out 78 in 54.1 innings with a 3.48 ERA ... senior outfielder Dalton Wheat leads the Emporia State line-up with a .404 batting average and .480 on-base percentage. He's swiped 18 bases on the season ... senior infiedler Evan Koehler is slugging .750 with 22 home runs and 12 doubles and has started 53 games for the Hornets ... head coach Bob Fornelli is in his 13th year leading ESU ... Emporia owns a 2-1 all-time record against the Bulldogs, but the teams have not met since a series on March 8-9, 2008.
LOOKING FORWARD
A victory over the Hornets will advance UMD to take on the winner of Thursday's 10:00 a.m. match-up between second-seed No. 12 Central Missouri (38-13 in the MIAA) and seventh seed Southwestern Oklahoma State University (33-15 in the Great American Conference). That game will be the Friday finale in the same 8:30 p.m. timeslot. An Emporia State victory will send the Bulldogs to the other side of the bracket where they'll match-up with the loser of UCM/SWOSU at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. The Mules of Central Missouri are led by senior outfielder Jake Alexander with a .415 batting average in 48 games. Senior outfielder Jacob Spring has 13 home runs to lead the Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs. UMD would not match up with conference rivals no. 4 St. Cloud State University or Minnesota State University until at least Saturday afternoon.
CIRCLING THE BASES
A pair of UMD seniors landed on the NSIC All-Tournament team - pitcher
Bo Hellquist and first baseman
Alex Wojciechowski. For Hellquist, it marked the second-straight season earning playoff honors. The southpaw tossed seven shutout innings to lead the Bulldogs to an opening round win over Sioux Falls. He allowed just four hits and struck out 11 Cougars ... Wojciechowski led UMD, batting .409 (9-for-22) with a .773 slugging percentage thanks to two home runs and a pair of doubles. His 10 runs batted in on the weekend brought him to 101 on the year, just three shy of the NCAA II single season record with at least two games left on the Bulldogs' schedule this week ... sophomore outfielder
Brett Milazzo also had himself a tournament, batting .391 (9-for-23) with a double and his first home run of the season. He drove in seven runs on the weekend ... senior third baseman
Kyle Comer had two home runs and drove in eight, while junior outfielder
Grant Farley crossed the plate a team-high nine times in five games ... sophomore right-hander
Alex Ferguson tossed 5.0 shutout innings out of the UMD bullpen, picking up a victory over Augustana on Saturday afternoon ... another senior lefty,
Spencer Diedrich threw 6.1 innings allowing just a pair of earned runs to pick up a win over Northern State in an elimination game on Friday night.
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RANKINGS
| Poll |
(1)
SCSU |
(2)
UCM |
(3)
UMD |
(4)
UAM |
(5)
MWSU |
(6)
ESU |
(7)
SWOSU |
(8)
MSU |
| NCBWA National Top 25 (May 10) |
4 |
12 |
20 |
RV |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| CBN National Top 30 (May 16) |
11 |
9 |
29 |
24 |
RV |
RV |
- |
- |
WEATHER EYE
Thursday: Mostly sunny ... High 69 (RealFeel: 73) Low 46 ... Winds S 8 mph ... Precipitation: 14%
Friday: Partly sunny... High 70 (RealFeel: 73) Low 47 ... Winds SSE 7 mph ... Precipitation 13%
Saturday: Mostly sunny ... High 75 (RealFeel: 78) Low 54 ... Winds SSE 7 mph ... Precipitation 5%
Sunday: Partly cloudy ... High 78 (RealFeel: 78) Low 57 ... Winds S 12 mph ... Precipitation 10%
GAME COVERAGE
All Games:
Live Stats |
Live Video
ON DECK
UMD and Emporia State will be the final two teams to take the field on Thursday night in St. Cloud. First pitch is set for 8:30 p.m. at Faber Field.
