Baseball | 5/10/2017 8:15:00 PM

Heartland Conference Tournament Notes
 
CLEBURNE, Texas – St. Edward's baseball opens its eighth-straight Heartland Conference Tournament Thursday at 1 p.m. against top-seeded Lubbock Christian inside The Depot at Cleburne Station.
 
Head coach Rob Penders and his squad start their quest for a fifth consecutive tournament title. St. Edward's is the No. 4 seed in the tournament after going 30-18 overall and 14-10 in conference play.
 
The Hilltoppers opened tournament week with seven All-Heartland Conference Selections. ROMEO CORTINA, STUART SPRINGER, and GABLE WHITACRE were named to the first team. BLAKE ALEXANDER, HUNTER COURSON, WILLIAM HAIRSTON, and BALLARD INFANTE were named to the second team. Cortina also earned All-Defensive team honors.
 
Live stats and video of the tournament will be available at GoHilltoppers.com. Below is a preview of SEU and the tournament with full game notes HERE.
 
WINNING WITH PITCHING: The St. Edward's pitching staff currently boasts the fifth-best ERA in the nation...the Hilltoppers finished third in the nation in ERA in 2016, and sixth in 2014...under pitching coach Jonathan Burns, the 2016 Hilltopper staff posted the second-best, single-season ERA in program history.
 
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE LATELY: Over SEU's last five games, TJ GISELBACH is batting .526 with seven runs and eight RBI...GABLE WHITACRE has two home runs and a double with eight RBI...ROMEO CORTINA has seven runs and seven RBI...BALLARD INFANTE has a 0.00 ERA with two wins and eight strikeouts.
 
ACROSS THE NATION: As a team, St. Edward's currently ranks top 10 nationally in ERA (5th), hits allowed per nine innings (8th), and WHIP (7th)...individually, BALLARD INFANTE ranks seventh in games started, and GABLE WHITACRE sits in the top 25 in RBI (14th), RBI per game (16th), and slugging percentage (21st)...STUART SPRINGER is 16th in the nation with nine victories, and WILLIAM HAIRSTON's five triples rank 24th.
 
GOING STREAKIN': A total of four Hilltoppers are riding reached-base streaks of 10 games or more...ROMEO CORTINA leads the way with his 30-game streak...HUNTER COURSON has reached in 18 straight games, and GABLE WHITACRE and TJ GISELBACH have reached in 11 and 10, respectively...Whitacre is also riding an 11-game hitting streak...Cortina and Whitacre have both posted hitting streaks of 18 and 15, respectively.
 
MR. HILLTOPPER: GABLE WHITACRE is one of three Hilltoppers who have played all four years at St. Edward's...he was named to the Heartland Conference All-Tournament team in 2015, and the NCAA South Central Regional All-Tournament Team in 2016...in 2017 he has been named South Central Region Hitter of the Week, and Heartland Conference hitter of the week twice...Whitacre has appeared in 200 games and made 194 starts...he holds eight top-10 marks in the St. Edward's record book, including the record for career doubles with 56.
 
THE PENDERS EFFECT: St. Edward's head coach Rob Penders earned the 400th win of his career earlier this season in a 9-1 victory at Newman...Penders has guided the Hilltoppers to six-straight 30-win seasons...under his guidance, St. Edward's has won six Heartland Conference titles and made five straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
 
UTILITY BELT LINEUP: St. Edward's lineup features five Hilltoppers who have made starts at multiple positions...CARSON COX has made starts at 1B, 3B, SS, and DH...GABLE WHITACRE has appeared at C, LF, and DH...WILLIAM HAIRSTON has rotated between 1B, CF, and DH...over his last two years, HUNTER COURSON has appeared in the outfield, across the infield, at catcher, and pitcher...TROY ANDERSON has also caught, pitched, and appeared at DH.
 
BOMBS AWAY: Earlier this season, at Lubbock Christian, HUNTER COURSON belted two home runs in one inning...St. Edward's combined to finish the game with six home runs...this season, 10 Hilltoppers have combined to hit 48 home runs.
 
For the latest information on the St. Edward's University Baseball team, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @SEUBaseball, or visit us at www.GoHilltoppers.com.