Tiger baseball earns No. 4 seed at GPAC tournament
MITCHELL, S.D. – The Dakota Wesleyan University baseball team is the No. 4 seed in the 2012 Great Plains Athletic Conference Postseason Tournament, it was officially announced by the league Sunday afternoon.
MITCHELL, S.D. – The Dakota Wesleyan University baseball team is the No. 4 seed in the 2012 Great Plains Athletic Conference Postseason Tournament, it was officially announced by the league Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers, who wrapped up the regular season with a 23-30 overall record and an 11-9 mark in the GPAC, start their tournament run at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, May 3, against No. 5 Northwestern College at Haymarket Park. Northwestern is 27-21 overall and also has an 11-9 mark in the league.
The two teams split during the regular season in Orange City, Iowa. DWU lost the first game 2-1 in eight innings on April 13, but answered with a 5-2 win in the second game behind a solid pitching performance from senior Ethan Opsahl. The Tigers got the upper hand in the seeding thanks to a split with Doane College a few weeks ago. Doane – the tournament's top seed – swept the Red Raiders.
The GPAC tournament starts with a pair of games at 9 a.m. on Thursday, May 3. The tournament is at Haymarket Park and Sherman Field in Lincoln, Neb. At 9 a.m. Thursday, No. 1 Doane (32-17, 16-4) takes on No. 8 Briar Cliff (25-29, 9-11) and No. 2 Morningside (35-19, 13-7) plays No. 7 Mount Marty (21-26, 10-10). In the other 11:30 a.m. game, No. 3 Nebraska Wesleyan (18-20, 12-8) plays No. 6 Concordia University (25-26, 10-10).
There will be four more games Thursday afternoon on the first day of the double-elimination tournament. The winners from the four morning games play at 6 p.m., with the four losing teams playing at 8:30 p.m. to see who comes back Friday morning. All of Thursday's games will be seven innings, but Friday and Saturday's games will be nine innings. The championship game is scheduled for noon Saturday.
Thursday marks the first GPAC tournament appearance in two seasons for the Tigers. DWU was a game away from the tournament championship game in 2010 before losing a 14-13 thriller to Northwestern, but failed to make the eight-team field in 2011. DWU won the tournament in 2009.