Baseball: St. Francis, Joliet Junior College, Lewis have more work to do
From Submitted Reports May 7, 2012 7:36PM
Updated: June 9, 2012 8:07AM
University of St. Francis will take its game to the mountains of Tennessee, having been assigned to the Kingsport, Tenn., bracket of the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round, which begins Thursday.
Four of the five teams headed to Kingsport have been to this round of the postseason at least three times since the NAIA went to this format in 2009. Tennessee Wesleyan, Indiana Institute of Technology and Campbellsville (Ky.) have advanced all four years with St. Francis having earned a bid for the third straight year.
The only rookie club among the five teams is Georgetown (Ky.).
Tennessee Wesleyan is the No. 1 seed in the double-elimination tournament. The Bulldogs (46-11) are ranked 16th in the nation. Georgetown (45-9) enters as the No. 2 seed and is No. 14 in the national rankings.
Indiana Tech (39-20), the No. 3 seed, is ranked 22nd. The No. 4 seed is Campbellsville (36-16). St. Francis (37-15) rounds out the tournament field as the No. 5 seed. The Saints are 4-4 in opening-round games.
The Saints will open against Campbellsville in a 10 a.m. Thursday contest. The winner will face Tennessee Wesleyan at 5 p.m. Thursday, while the loser will take on the loser of Thursday’s Georgetown vs. Indiana Tech contest at 10 a.m. Friday.
The tournament winner will advance to the 56th Annual NAIA World Series from May 25 to June 1 in Lewiston, Idaho.
Joliet Junior College baseball
Joliet Junior College defeated Rock Valley 10-2, Waubonsee 10-0 and Rock Valley 3-1 over the weekend to win the Region IV Sectional Tournament and advance to the Region IV Championship Series.
The Wolves (31-28) will be home Friday against the other Region IV sectional winner, away Saturday and home Sunday (if necessary) in the best-of-3 series that will determine the Region IV representative in the NJCAA Division III World Series at Tyler, Texas. The other sectional, which was weather delayed, had come down to either Harper or Milwaukee.
Lewis baseball
Lewis split its season-ending doubleheader Sunday at Northern Kentucky, dropping the opener 7-1 and winning the nightcap 12-7. The victory in Game 2 clinched a berth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament for a third consecutive season.
Lewis (32-18, 21-15) will open Thursday in the conference tournament. The Flyers do not yet know their exact seed because of a pending makeup game between Missouri-St. Louis and Missouri S&T, but it will be either seventh or eighth.
St. Francis signings
The University of St. Francis women’s basketball program has signed Plainfield East 6-foot center Denitsa Owikoti to a letter of intent.
The most valuable player on her team as a sophomore and junior, Owikoti also was an All-Southwest Prairie Conference selection as a sophomore and led East to a 21-7 record her senior year. She plans to major in radiology or psychology.
Romeoville’s Ewelina Szwed has signed a letter of intent to continue her tennis career with the Saints women’s team. She plans to major in physical therapy or radiation therapy.
The Saints men’s tennis team has signed Jonathan Pacheco (Lemont). He became the first Lemont ever to reach the second day in the IHSA state championships last spring when he advanced to the Round of 32. He will major in nursing.
Dwight golf invite
Kyle English, of Bloomington, the defending champion, shot 6-under-par 65 to win the Dwight Invitational Golf Tournament at Dwight Country Club. The Championship Flight handicap was 0-6.
Winner in the A flight (handicap 7-10) was Dave Cornale, of Dwight, who shot 75. Dale Adams, of Dwight, won the B Flight (handicap 11-over) after shooting 78.
