Baseball | 5/17/2017 7:08:00 PM

NCAA Regional Tournament Notes
 
SAN ANGELO, Texas – St. Edward's baseball opens its sixth-straight NCAA South Central Regional Tournament Thursday at 3:30 p.m. against second-seeded Colorado Mesa at Foster Field inside 1st Community Credit Union Stadium.
 
Head coach Rob Penders and his squad look to make their first NCAA DII World Series appearance since 2013. St. Edward's is the No. 5 seed in the tournament after going 33-18 overall and winning its fifth-straight Heartland Conference Tournament.  
 
The Hilltoppers head into the tourney with three South Central All-Region Selections. ROMEO CORTINA and GABLE WHITACRE earned first-team honors while STUART SPRINGER was named to the second team.
 
Live audio will be provided by Mason Robinson at GoHilltoppers.com, with links to live stats and video of the tournament as well. Exclusive content of the Hilltoppers' trip to San Angelo, Texas will be available on social media at @SEUBaseball.
 
Below is a preview of SEU and the tournament with full game notes HERE.
 
LAST TIME OUT: St. Edward's last game was a 3-1 victory over UA Fort Smith in the Heartland Conference Championship...TANNER LAWSON got the win with 7.2 innings of four-hit, one-run work...the Lions scored first but SEU came back with three unanswered runs...GABLE WHITACRE tied the game with a one-run double in the sixth inning...TJ GISELBACH drove in Whitacre to put the Hilltoppers ahead...JACOB VASQUEZ recorded the four-out save.
 
SERIES HISTORY: The Hilltoppers and Mavericks have faced a total of three times, all in the NCAA Regional tournament...the team's last meeting was in '15...CMU ended SEU's season with an 8-6 win in 10 innings...St. Edward's tied the game 6-6 in the ninth...Colorado Mesa scored two unanswered runs in the 10th.
 
COMIN' IN HOT: The Hilltoppers eight-game winning streak is the second-longest, active winning streak in the nation...SEU has won 11 of its last 12 games, scoring 106 runs on 145 hits with 10 home runs...St. Edward's came into the '16 NCAA Tournament on a 12-game winning streak.
 
BOMBS AWAY: Earlier this season, at LCU, HUNTER COURSON, belted two home runs in one inning...SEU finished the game with six home runs...this season, 10 Hilltoppers have combined to hit 48 home runs.
 
WINNING WITH PITCHING: The St. Edward's pitching staff currently boasts the fourth-best ERA in the nation...the Hilltoppers finished third in the nation in ERA in '16, and sixth in '14...under pitching coach Jonathan Burns, the '16 Hilltopper staff posted the second-best, single-season ERA in program history.
 
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE LATELY: Over SEU's last five games, HUNTER COURSON is batting .471 with eight hits including one double...TJ GISELBACH has hit two home runs and recorded 11 RBI...TANNER LAWSON is 1-0 in two appearances and has a 0.84 ERA with seven strikeouts.
 
GOING STREAKIN': A total of four Hilltoppers are riding reached-base streaks of 10 games or more...ROMEO CORTINA leads the way with his 33-game streak while HUNTER COURSON has reached in 21 straight games...GABLE WHITACRE has recorded a hit in 14-straight games and TJ GISELBACH has a base knock in 12 staight.
 
MR. HILLTOPPER: GABLE WHITACRE is one of three Hilltoppers who has played all four years at St. Edward's...he was named to the conference all-tournament team in '15, and the regional all-tournament team in '16...in '17 he has been named first-team all-conference and first-team all-region...Whitacre has appeared in 203 games and made 197 starts...he holds eight top-10 marks in St. Edward's record book, including the record for career doubles with 58.
 
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 seven Heartland Conference titles and made six-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 and HUNTER COURSON has appeared in the outfield, across the infield, at catcher, and pitcher...TROY ANDERSON has also caught, pitched, and appeared at DH.
 
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.