NCAA South Central Region Tournament Central

CANYON, Texas – After winning the Heartland Baseball Tournament for the sixth year in a row, the St. Edward's baseball team makes its eighth appearance, in the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament. As the No. 3 seed, the Hilltoppers will matchup vs. the fourth seeded No. 28 Colorado School of Mines Thursday at Wilder Park at 11 a.m. The double elimination tournament will be hosted by West Texas A&M.   
 
SEU will participate in the NCAA Tournament for the seventh consecutive year and has an all-time 9-13 overall record in the regional tournament and is 4-6 vs. the 2018 field (3-2 vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville, 0-1 vs. West Texas A&M, and 1-3 vs. Colorado Mesa). The Hilltoppers has one regional title after winning in 2013. The Hilltoppers are currently on a six-game winning streak and have won 16 of their last 18 games to get to this point after opening conference play with a 5-8 record.
 
"This team, probably more than any I've ever had, has fought through levels of adversity that I've never seen before," said head coach Rob Penders. "It's been impressive to watch as a coach and something I'll never forget about this group."
 
Although the Hilltoppers (33-19) have never gone head-to-head vs. the Orediggers (35-16) in the regional tournament, they are familiar foes that split a four-game series this season Feb. 16-18 in Golden, Colo. In the final game of the series, SEU rallied back from a 9-0 deficit thanks to a 10-run eighth inning highlighted by BLAKE ALEXANDER's first grand slam on the year. The Hilltoppers went on to win it in extra innings, 12-10 with two runs scored in the tenth.
 
"Once you get to the regional, you really don't put much emphasis on who you are paying. The reason being that everyone here is good and we all have one really good pitcher probably. That's the case with Mines and they will probably be throwing someone we didn't see when we played in February. All four of those games were played at a high level by both teams and I expect the same will happen on Thursday."      
 
CSM enters the tournament as the RMAC runner-up after suffering back-to-back losses vs. the tournament's second seed, No. 12 Colorado Mesa. The Orediggers lead the RMAC with 82 home runs and rank second with a .323 batting average. However, their pitching staff has struggled this season posting a 5.75 ERA.
 
After opening the tournament Thursday, No. 2 seed Colorado Mesa will take on No. 5 seed Texas A&M-Kingsville at 3 p.m., and No. 1 West Texas A&M will wrap up day one in a Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship rematch vs. No. 6 seed Tarleton State at 7 p.m. 
 
Follow St. Edward's baseball all season long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @SEUBaseball.