Eagle Baseball Cops Fifth Straight Playoff Berth
May 12, 2003

“May Day, May Day.”

That’s not a distress signal at Ashland University. What it has become is a day of celebration, a day when the NCAA Division II baseball postseason field is announced. That’s become a holiday for the Eagles.

On Monday (May 12), the Eagles learned that they have been invited to the NCAA playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. The Eagles (36-18-1) will travel to Grand Valley State in Allendale, MI, for the North Central Regional Tournament. The other three teams in the field are top-seeded Missouri-St. Louis (39-13), second-seeded Grand Valley State (35-12-1) and Indianapolis (37-20), the third seed.

The winner of the tournament will advance to the NCAA Championships in Montgomery, AL (May 24-31). The regional tournament is a double-elimination affair that runs Thursday-Saturday, May 15-17. Ashland’s opening game is Thursday (May 15) at 11 a.m., against Missouri-St. Louis.

A year ago AU made the trek to Alabama by winning the regional crown. That tournament was held in Ashland the Eagles were 3-0 at the regional. AU and Grand Valley are the returnees from last year’s field and both are from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. UMSL and Indianapolis are from the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). By making the postseason party for the fifth consecutive season the Eagles have joined an elite group. AU is one of six institutions at the Division II level to make the playoffs five straight times. Ashland is the only private institution in that group.

The Eagles went 1-2 at last weekend’s GLIAC tournament, held at Grand Valley State. Prior to that, however, the Eagles had won 10 of their last 12 games. As AU head coach John Schaly pointed out prior to the GLIAC tournament, the Eagles are a well-balanced unit. There’s no one phase of the game that the Eagles don’t handle well.

The pitching staff is a veteran unit, especially the starting rotation. That group includes four senior righthanders – Ryan Hartzell, Jon Krugman, Nate Wright and Chris Skibinski. Hartzell is 6-6, Krugman is 8-3, Wright checks in at 9-3 and Skibinski has a 5-3 mark. Krugman picked up AU’s lone win last weekend, beating Hillsdale, 17-2. He’s won his last three starts. Wright led the GLIAC in victories this season and Hartzell is tied with Mark Smithberger for the lead in career wins at AU.

The offense is spearheaded by junior catcher Josh Gaub. He’s hitting a team-high .419 with two homers and 38 RBI. He’s also the director of the AU pitching staff. Gaub’s a true iron man, he’s played in 54 games and started 52. That work load hasn’t worn him down – at the GLIAC tournament he hit .400, scored three times and drove in three runs.

Junior outfielder Brandon Cornell, hitting third in the order, has been steady all season, hitting .382 with a team-high eight homers and 44 RBI. Senior shortstop Tim Hinchliffe is hitting at a .397 clip as the leadoff hitter. Skibinski is hitting .384.

The production line doesn’t end with those four. Two of AU’s hottest hitters over the last two weekends are junior third baseman Eric McDaniel and senior designated hitter Brock Wiskochil. During the final week of the regular season, McDaniel hit .611 with two homers, a pair of doubles and 10 RBI. At the GLIAC tournament Wiskochil went 8-for-13 (.615) with four RBI. Wiskochil is the team’s leader in RBI (47) and McDaniel is tied for second on the team in RBI (44).

Ashland went 1-1-1 with Grand Valley State this year. The two teams met in the GLIAC tournament and the Lakers came away with an 8-3 win. AU and Indy tangled in Florida back on Mar. 9. The Greyhounds won that contest, 3-1.

“Any one of the four teams could win the tournament,” predicted Schaly. “We’ll have to play well. Last week against Saginaw Valley our pitching and defense struggled and then in the Grand Valley game we didn’t hit. We just have to put it all together.”

NOTES FROM THE NEST: Ashland has a 16-16 all-time record in postseason play. Under Schaly, the Eagles are 9-8 in the postseason…at last year’s regional tournament the Eagles beat Grand Valley State, 9-1, Saginaw Valley State, 10-7 and Northern Kentucky, 6-2…the Eagles own a .361 team batting average and are averaging 8.6 runs per game…Wright, Hartzell and Krugman have completed 46 percent of their starting assignments…Hartzell is 3-1 in NCAA postseason action.