DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - For the sixth consecutive season, Daytona Beach will be one of nine sites across the country hosting a NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round as the five-team, double-elimination event is unofficially kicked off Sunday evening at the Opening Round Banquet and games begin Monday morning at Embry-Riddle's Sliwa Stadium. The winners of each of the nine Opening Rounds will join Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston Idaho for the 58th Annual Avista-NAIA World Series, slated for May 23-30, 2014.
Host Embry-Riddle will be joined by Southern Poly (Ga.), Talladega (Ala.), Tennessee Wesleyan and LSU Alexandria in the Daytona Beach Bracket of the 45-team Opening Round field.
No. 1 Southern Poly Hornets (42-16)The top-seeded SPSU Hornets are ranked No. 9 in the latest NAIA Coaches' Poll after winning the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament last week. The Hornets swept through the tournament with two wins over then-No. 9 Brewton-Parker as well as a win over No. 4 Faulkner in the title game to claim the tournament crown.
SPSU, under the diretion of second-year Head Coach Marty Lovrich sports a record of 42-16 overall and a 20-9 mark in the SSAC. The Hornets have won five consecutive games and are looking for their third-ever trip to the World Series where they previously made an appearance in 1986 and 2009.
SPSU is an incredible balanced team with a team batting average of .300, team ERA of 3.46 and team fielding percentage of .957.
Offensively, the Hornets are led by All-SSAC outfielder Khirus Ware and his .380 batting average. Ware leads the team with 76 hits, 12 doubles, eight triples and 43 RBIs. Dalton Martinez, the All-SSAC third baseman for the Hornets, isn't far behind Ware with a .373 average, 63 hits, eight doubles and 31 RBIs with 18 stolen bases. Matt Miller was named the SSAC's Newcomer of the Year while hitting .324 with 55 hits and 30 RBIs with 29 walks, while Tremayne Hardin leads SPSU with 28 stolen bases in 32 attempts.
Miller is also a workhorse on the mound, posting a 7-4 mark and 2.84 ERA in 79.1 innings of work. Miller has allowed just 14 extra-base hits all season long with a .254 batting average against. Zach Smith boasts a 6-3 record and 2.87 ERA in a team-high 87.2 innings on the bump. Smith has 80 strikeouts as well as three saves. Brantley Burton is 3-0 and has a 2.18Â ERA with eight saves in 33.0 innings for the Hornets.
Southern Poly is 7-6 all-time in the Opening Round, advancing to the World Series in 2009.
No. 2 Embry-Riddle Eagles (37-19)The host Eagles find themselves in unfamiliar territory as the No. 2 seed in the Opening Round bracket. The Blue and Gold has been the top-seeded team in each of the previous five Opening Rounds in Daytona Beach. ERAU, coached by seventh-year skipper
Randy Stegall captured the program's 15th Sun Conference regular season title in 2014 with a 22-5 mark.
No. 15 ERAU is coming off a conference tournament loss to No. 17 Southeastern in the title game of the six-team event, the first time the Eagles had ever lost on the final day of the tournament.
Embry-Riddle relies on pitching, timely hitting and solid defense during contests and holds a 22-8 record at home this season.
Darryl Knight and
Daniel Poncedeleon lead seven All-Sun Conferene selections. Knight is hitting .338 with 66 hits, 12 doubles, four triples and 11 home runs for 51 RBIs and a slugging percentage of .610 and a fielding percentage behind the plate of .990.
Kevin Lindheim has 71 hits, including 15 doubles for a .326 batting average with 41 RBIs and 28 runs scored. Outfielder
Liam Goodall is second on the team with 67 hits and leads the squad with five triples, scoring 37 times. ERAU has six players with at least 10 steals, paced by
Kyle Chastain's 23.
Poncedeleon highlights the Eagle pitching staff that has a 2.58 team ERA in 485.0 innings. Poncedeleon is 8-2 with a 1.77 ERA in 86.2 innings of work, striking out 94 batters and holding them to a .208 average from the plate.
Stetson Nelson leads the team with nine wins, recording three complete games in 89.1 innings with a .210 BAA.
David Lidyard has been the relief man most used with 65.2 innings, an 8-1 record and 1.78 ERA while
Ronnie Lozada has seven saves and a 0.68 ERA as the Eagles' closer.
Embry-Riddle is 15-1 all-time in the Opening Round with five titles and has made 12 appearances at the World Series.
No. 3 Talladega Tornadoes (39-18)Will Ramos, in his sixth season at Talladega, leads his team to the Opening Round for the first time in school history. The Tornadoes went 17-1 in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference and won the conference tournament in Jacksonville, Fla. TC is 20-12 away from home this season, including a 2-0 mark at neutral locations.
Talladega has posted a .362 batting average in 2014, striking for 593 hits and 502 runs with 127 doubles, 24 triples and 32 home runs for a .528 slugging percentage, as well as 120 stolen bases.
Hector Corona leads the team with 57 hits and 11 home runs for 54 RBIs and 56 runs scored. Coronoa is slugging .712 with 30 walks and has six stolen bases. George Santiago has a .391 average with 51 hits, 15 doubles and three home runs for 46 RBIs, second-most on the Tornadoes' squad. Dion Duncan leads the team with 26 stolen bases in 29 tries.
On the mound, TC has a 4.72 ERA with 15 complete games and seven shutouts, holding teams to a .252 average offensively. TC has struck out 273 batters and issued 197 walks. Matt Holland is 6-0 with a 3.45 ERA in 47.0 innings while Bryan Lopez has 67.1 innings of work on the bump with a 7-5 mark and 3.61 ERA.
The Tornadoes are making their first-ever appearance in the Opening Round.
No. 4 Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs (33-22-1)No stranger to the Opening Round, Tennessee Wesleyan is making its sixth consecutive appearance in the 45-team event. Billy Berry is in his ninth season at the helm of the Bulldog program, reaching the pinnacle of NAIA Baseball in 2012 with a National Championship.
TWC won the Appalachian Athletic Conference regular season crown with a 19-8 mark before falling to Bryan in the conference tournament.
The Bulldogs have an impressive .307 team batting average with 36 home runs as a squad, as all but one Bulldog with over 50 ABs has a long ball. James Boddicker paces the Bulldogs with a .357 average from the plate on 71 hits, 18 doubles and three homers for 30 RBIs and 48 runs scored. Boddicker also has 15 stolen bases, second only to David Donald's 27. Wes Minton has a .323 average with 40 hits and three bombs and 33 runs scored. TWC is slugging .440 as a team and has a .385 on-base percentage.
Tennessee Wesleyan's pitchers have combined for a 3.86 ERA in 431.0 innings with 354 strikeouts and a .265 batting average against. Brent Adheen is 7-3 with a 2.42 ERA in 12 starts with three CGs in 81.2 innings with 70 Ks while Josh Clemen is 8-6 with a 3.05 ERA in 16 starts with 4 complete games, three shutous in 94.1 innings and 85 strikeouts.
As a squad, TWC is fielding .951 with 46 double plays on its resume.
The Bulldogs will be in their sixth Opening Round with a 14-6 record and three titles.
No. 5 LSU Alexandria Generals (34-23)Like Talladega, the Generals are making their first-ever appearance in the Opening Round after garnering the final at-large berth to the tournament thanks to a 34-23 record. Brent Porche is in his second season with the Generals after graduating from perennial power LSU Shreveport in 2009.
The Generals are 13-13 away from home this year, going 8-7 in conference play in the Association of Independent Institutions.
LSUA has outscored its opponents 354-238 and has one of the best defenses in the country with a .965 fielding percentage.
LSUA has a .276 batting average as a team and 4.11 ERA. Seth Montz leads the team with a .311 clip from the plate on 52 hits, while Michael Collado has driven in 40 runs and scored 38 for the Generals. LSUA likes to steal bases with 124 out of 157 attempts being succesful. Keagan Kratzer has a .300 average with 45 hits and 34 stolen bases.
The Generals have three solid starters in Ryan Touchet (3-2, 2.49 ERA), Adam Hines (8-3, 2.57 ERA) and Kirk Savoy (7-3, 2.60 ERA) with 310 Ks as a team as opponents have hit .247 against LSUA in 2014.
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| Team Comparison | No. 1 Southern Poly | No. 2 Embry-Riddle | No. 3 Talladega | No. 4 Tennessee Wesleyan | No. 5 LSU Alexandria |
| 2014 Record | 42-16 | 37-19 | 39-18 | 33-22-1 | 34-23 |
| NAIA Ranking | 9 | 15 | RV | RV | RV |
| Opening Round Appearances (Record) | 5 (7-6) | 5 (15-1) | 0 (0-0 | 6 (14-6) | 0 (0-0) |
| World Series Appearances (Record) | 2 (2-4) | 12 (19-24) | 0 (0-0) | 3 (5-5) | 0 (0-0) |
| Conference | SSAC | TSC | GCAC | AAC | A.I.I. |
| Conference Record | 20-9 | 22-5 | 17-2 | 19-8 | 8-7 |
| Batting Average | .300 | .281 | .362 | .307 | .276 |
| Runs | 339 | 281 | 502 | 367 | 354 |
| Hits | 547 | 514 | 593 | 523 | 467 |
| Home Runs | 12 | 19 | 32 | 36 | 14 |
| RBIs | 295 | 249 | 465 | 327 | 302 |
| SLG% | .374 | .369 | .528 | .440 | .383 |
| OB% | .389 | .361 | ,436 | .385 | .369 |
| Stolen Bases | 103 | 102 | 120 | 120 | 124 |
| FLD% | .957 | .959 | .948 | .951 | .965 |
| ERA | 3.46 | 2.58 | 4.72 | 3.86 | 4.11 |
| Innings Pitched | 475.1 | 485.0 | 383.0 | 431.0 | 444.2 |
| Earned Runs Allowed | 183 | 139 | 201 | 185 | 203 |
| Strikeouts | 362 | 418 | 273 | 354 | 310 |
| Batting Average Against | .265 | .222 | .252 | .265 | .247 |
