Baseball takes center stage this week, as Ashland University is the No. 2 seed in the 2016 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, Thursday-Sunday (May 12-15) at the Athletes in Action Sports Complex in Xenia, Ohio.
Eagle outdoor track and field will look to get more athletes into NCAA Division II nationals with a last-chance weekend, and senior women's golfer Ali Green will prep this week for a nationals run next week.
BASEBALL – The Eagles come into the conference tournament at 31-18 overall and with a share of the GLIAC regular-season title, along with Grand Valley State. This is the second consecutive season AU has won at least a share of the conference regular-season championship.
Ashland is the No. 2 seed in the tournament due to a tiebreaker, and will begin play on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. against No. 5 seed Walsh (26-24). The Eagles and Cavaliers split a four-game set in Canton on April 23-24, and combined for 79 runs.
The GLIAC Tournament championship game(s) will be Sunday at 11 a.m., and, if necessary, a second game to follow.
The Eagles are looking for their first GLIAC Tournament championship since 2013, when they defeated both Ohio Dominican (7-5) and the Lakers (6-4) to secure the title.
TRACK AND FIELD – A yet-to-be determined number of athletes will compete at last-chance weekends at Hillsdale and Grand Valley State. The Eagle men and women have three automatic and 28 provisional marks for the 2016 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships, May 26-28 in Bradenton, Fla.
Thanks to their efforts at the 2016 GLIAC Championships, junior Jason Zahn has the fifth-best men's discus throw in D-II at 55.99 meters/183-feet-8, sophomore Irene Skinner has moved into eighth in the country in the 400-meter dash at 54.19 seconds and both sophomore Elijah Talk (ninth, 17.65 meters/57-feet-11) and Zahn (13th, 17.45 meters/57-feet-3) are in the top 13 in the nation in the men's shot put.
Selections for nationals will be revealed online by 6 p.m. on May 17.
WOMEN'S GOLF – Green will make her first solo appearance – and third overall – at the NCAA Championships, May 18-21 at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora, Colo. The medalist at both the GLIAC Championship and Super Region 1, Green is on the best stretch in the 16-season history of the program, averaging 71.3 strokes in the last six rounds.
For the composite Ashland University athletics schedule, go to http://www.goashlandeagles.com/composite.
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