SLIAC Weekly Release - April 29
Posted: Apr 29, 2015

SLIAC Weekly Release - April 29

This week in the SLIAC is a weekly review of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. It recaps the prior weeks results and highlights upcoming events. You can also find the latest standings, statistics, schedules and awards.

HEADLINES
 Principia Defends SLIAC Men's Tennis Title (April 25, 2015)
 The Principia college men's tennis team defended their St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title with a 5-3 win over Greenville College in the 2015 championship match.....MORE

Greenville Men Take Top Spot at SLIAC Meet (April 26, 2015)
Greenville College capped the 2015 spring season by taking first place among SLIAC teams in this weekend's conference competition in Greenville, Ill.....MORE

Webster Women Finish First Among SLIAC Teams at Meet (April 26, 2015)
The Webster University women's track and field team took first place among SLIAC teams this past weekend in a conference wide meet in Greenville, Ill.....MORE

Webster Baseball Back in ABCA Poll (April 28, 2015)
The Webster University baseball team has entered the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball poll once again and are ranked #22 in NCAA Division III.....MORE

2015 SLIAC Softball Tournament Preview (April 28, 2015)
This weekend the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference will crown their 2015 softball champion. Fontbonne University will be seeking their sixth consecutive tournament title in a field that also includes Greenville College, MacMurray College, and Spalding University.....MORE

SLIAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

The SLIAC Players of the Week are honored for their performances during the week. Click on the sport link below to see the full list of 2014-15 Players of the Week. For this week's Player of the Week release - HERE

Baseball - Jeff Kammer, Webster University (Hitter)
                Deion Hughes, Westminster College (Pitcher)
Softball -  Amanda Gilliland, Spalding University (Hitter)
                Alyson Hahn, Westminster College (Pitcher)

Baseball l Softball l Men's Tennis l Women's Tennis l Men's Track & Field l Women's Track & Field

SLIAC SPRING STANDINGS

BASEBALL       SOFTBALL    
School SLIAC Overall   School SLIAC Overall
East Division       Fontbonne 18-0 27-9
Greenville 15-5
 17-16   Greenville
 13-5
 22-15
Spalding 14-5 22-12
   MacMurray 12-6
 18-15
MacMurray 9-13 16-21
   Spalding 11-7
 14-20
Principia 6-16
 9-22
   Westminster
 10-8
 13-20
Blackburn 3-16 10-26
   Webster
 8-10
 10-23
West Division

  Eureka
 7-11
 15-21
Webster 16-3 27-10
   Iowa Wesleyan
 6-12
 14-18
Westminster 15-5
 20-9
   Blackburn 3-15
 5-31
Fontbonne
 12-7 17-18   Principia 2-16 5-28
Iowa Wesleyan
 8-14
 14-21  


Eureka 4-18
 6-23  


AROUND THE SLIAC

The Blackburn baseball team picked up their second double header sweep of the season last weekend with a sweep of Robert Morris-Peoria. The Beavers won game one 21-4 and took game two 3-2. Blackburn exploded for 13 runs in the third inning of game one with 14 batters coming to the plate before an out was recorded. Vinnie Birk and Jon Lowry picked up wins in the double header.
It was a standout freshman year for Red Devil softball player Kali George. George, from East Peoria, Ill., led her team both at the plate and in the circle. George hit a team best .364 with one home run and a team high 28 runs batted in. In the circle George had 11 wins, tying for the third most wins in the SLIAC this season. George also finished with 64 strikeouts in 124.2 innings pitched. 
The Fontbonne softball team jumped into the NFCA National Poll last week after sweeping #12 ranked Washington University-St. Louis. The Griffins are ranked #23 in the poll and are 27-9 overall this season. They are the #1 seed in the upcoming SLIAC Softball Tournament and will be looking for their sixth consecutive tournament title.
Greenville College alum and Biggest Loser finalist Sonya Jones will speak on campus on May 4. Jones, a former Panther softball standout, will speak at 9:30 a.m. in Whitlock Music Center about her journey of physical and spiritual transformation while competing on Season 16 of NBC's reality weight-loss show. Following her speaking engagement Jones will hold a question and answer session. The event is free and open to the public.

The Iowa Wesleyan softball team closed out their season with a sweep of Robert Morris-Springfield. The Tigers won 6-3 and 9-1 to finish the year 14-18 overall. The Tigers' Samantha McIlwain picked up the win in game one with Stephanie Tillmann recording the save. Kristine Becks went 3-4 in game one to lead the attack. In game two Tillmann notched the win in the circle while Mikayla Dwyer went two-for-two at the plate.
The MacMurray chapter of Chi Alpha Sigma, an honors society for athletes, inducted its inaugural class last week. To be a member of Chi Alpha, a student must have be a varsity athlete with at least junior status and a minimum grade-point average of 3.4. To see a full list of Highlander student-athletes inducted click HERE
The Principia baseball team has notched wins over two SLIAC Tournament bound teams over the last week. The Panthers took game one of a three game series against Spalding last weekend, winning 2-1 behind an outstanding pitching performance by Gavin Thomas. The Panthers then defeated Westminster 8-0 in the final game of the series with Dallen Russell picking up the win on the mound.

Spalding softball junior Amanda Gilliland was named the SLIAC Softball Hitter of the Week this week. Gilliland hit .667 in six games, driving in six and slugging 1.167 on the week with a .700 on base percentage. Gilliland had four multi-hit games and in four conference games on the week she drove in at least one RBI in three of the games.
This week Webster's Jeff Kammer not only was named the SLIAC Baseball Hitter of the Week but was named the D3baseball.com Player of the Week. Kammer hit .706 with two home runs and 11 runs batted in on the week, helping the Gorloks go 3-1 on the week and mark a return to the ABCA National Top 25 poll.
The Westminster spring teams swept the conference pitching honors this week. Softball's Alyson Hahn picked up her fifth pitcher of the week award after recording a 2.10 earned-run average while allowing just five hits in 10 innings pitched. Deion Hughes picked up his first pitcher of the week honors after throwing a complete game shutout while striking out six.

THIS WEEK'S SLIAC SCHEDULE

To see a complete schedule of this week's SLIAC action click HERE

KEEP UP WITH THE SLIAC ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Be sure to keep up with the SLIAC using various social media tools. You can follow us on Twitter (@sliac) HERE or Facebook (St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) HERE

Be sure to check out the SLIAC You Tube Channel. There you will find our weekly Feature Friday series where we talk with student-athletes from around the conference and help you get to know them outside of athletics and give you an idea of what it is like to be a NCAA Division III student-athlete. We also post all of our tournament highlight videos there. Check out the highlights from this past weekend's Men's Tennis Tournament (HERE)