SLIAC Weekly Release - April 16

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

Feature Friday: The Impact of D3 (April 11, 2014)
This week is NCAA Division III week, celebrated by all Division III institutions across the country. In this week's Feature Friday interview we spoke with Angie Morenz of Blackburn College and Maria Eftink of Fontbonne University....MORE

Westminster's James Earned NIC All-American Honors (April 12, 2014)
Westminster senior guard Joe James was named to the 2014 North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) All-Fraternity All-American Basketball Second Team....MORE

SLIAC Men's Tennis Championship Set For This Weekend (April 15, 2014)
The 2014 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament will be held this weekend, Friday and Saturday, at the Westminster Christian Academy in Town and Country, Mo.....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 2013-14 Players of the Week. For this week's Player of the Week release - HERE

Baseball- (Hitter) Taylor Stoulp, Webster University
              (Pitcher) Will Miller, Westminster College
Softball-  (Hitter) Rachel Franck, Webster University
               (Pitcher) Kelci Flener, Spalding University
Men's Golf- Zach Koonce, MacMurray College
Men's Tennis- Kyle Collins, Westminster College
Women's Tennis- Marissa Lewis, Webster University
Men's Track & Field- (Field) Josh Kuusisto, Greenville College
                                (Track) Bruce Gray, Greenville College
Women's Track & Field- (Field) Lyssa Winslow, Principia College
                                     (Track) Jenny Howard, Webster University

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

SLIAC STANDINGS

AROUND THE SLIAC

The Blackburn baseball team had their six game winning streak snapped last week when they dropped the final two games of a three game series against Iowa Wesleyan. The Beavers will look to get back in the win column this week with a single game against Eureka and a three game series against Fontbonne this weekend.

Freshman outfielder Blake Lishka has made an immediate impact with the Red Devil baseball program. Serving as their lead-off hitter Lishka leads the team in batting average, RBI and stolen bases. He is currently second in the conference with a .453 batting average.

The Fontbonne softball team held strong at #22 in this week's NFCA National Poll. The Griffins are 24-4 overall this season and received 34 total points in the poll. They have won 19 consecutive games and will face Spalding and Blackburn this week in a pair of SLIAC double headers.

Greenville's Tiffany Samsoe is just one of two players in the SLIAC to rank in the top five in both batting average and runs batted in. Samsoe currently leads the conference in hitting at a .495 average and is third in RBI with 31.

The Iowa Wesleyan softball team swept a SLIAC double header against Blackburn last week, snapping the Tigers six game losing streak. Iowa Wesleyan won game one 8-4 after plating five runs in the seventh inning for a come from behind win. The Tigers then won a pitcher's duel in game two, 1-0 to pull their conference record even on the year.

Highlander golfer Zach Koonce was named the SLIAC Golfer of the Week this week after winning the Illinois College Invitational and finishing second in a separate event. Koonce averaged 76.5 strokes per round on the week including a one over par in the Invitational.

The Principia softball team recorded their first conference wins of the season last week in sweeping Blackburn in a double header. The Panthers won game one 7-5 and took game two 10-8. Principia's Christine Nacewicz went 2-for-3 with two RBI in game one while four different Panthers had two hits in game two.

Spalding senior Paige French is the only softball player in the SLIAC to rank in the top five in the three major offensive categories this season. French is third in batting average (.493), fourth in runs batted in (28) and fifth in home runs (5).

Although the Webster baseball team saw their 16 game winning streak come to an end in a loss to Illinois State last week, the Gorloks moved up one spot in this week's D3baseball.com poll and are currently #2 in the nation. The Gorloks are 22-4 overall this season. They will face Spalding in a three game series at home this weekend.

Westminster pitcher Deion Hughes is seeking to capture the SLIAC Triple Crown of pitching. He currently leads the conference in both wins (6) and earned-run average (1.18). Hughes currently trails Anthony Willeford of MacMurray in strikeouts by nine.

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) HEREor Facebook (St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) HERE

Friday's are Feature Friday's where we will get to know our current SLIAC Student-Athletes through a series of video interviews. This past week's Feature Friday was with Athletic Directors Angie Morenz (Blackburn College) and Maria Eftink (Fontbonne University). Watch HERE