Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

May 18: NCAA Division III Central Regional Championship hosted by Webster University, No. 5 seed North Central College (25-16) vs. No. 2 seed Washington University-St. Louis (26-8)
First Pitch: 3:30 p.m., GCS Ballpark, Sauget, Illinois
Tournament Website: http://www.websterathletics.com/news/2016/5/12/BB_Regional.aspx
Live Stats: http://sidearmstats.com/webster/baseball/xlive.htm
Live Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-hl3i84y-M

Setting the Scene: 56 teams were selected to this year's NCAA Division III Tournament field, with four regionals featuring eight teams and four regionals hosting six teams. All eight regional sites will play a double elimination format, with the eight winners of each regional meeting in Appleton, Wis. for the NCAA Division III Championship at Fox Cities Stadium, May 26-31. The Cardinals enter the tournament with an overall record of 25-16 and received the No. 5 seed in the regional, taking on No. 2 seed Washington University-St. Louis (Missouri) on Thursday, May 18 at 3:30 p.m. at GCS Ballpark.  This mark's the program's ninth NCAA Regional appearance and second in as many years, also qualifying in 1985, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1994, 1998, 2010 and 2016.

Tournament Field: Birmingham Southern College (Alabama) received the No. 1 seed, while WashU enters the six-team field with the No. 2 seed.  Also playing in the regional are Wartburg College (Iowa), seeded third, followed by Webster (Missouri) with the fourth seed and Greenville College (Illinois) rounds out the field with the No. 6 seed.

About North Central: North Central earned their third consecutive CCIW regular season championship and went on to win the first CCIW Tournament title since 1998, the eight overall in program history to earn the conference's automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Division III Tournament.

North Central enters with an overall record of 25-16 as head coach Ed Mathey earned his sixth career CCIW regular season title, leading the Cardinals to the title in each of his first three seasons in his return to the helm of the program.

Five Cardinals were named to the All-CCIW teams, led by first-team selections Michael Mateja and Nick Sotiros, while pitchers Evan Blunk and Austin Polezoes were named to the second team along with John Carmody as a utility player.  Mateja was named the conference's Player of the Year after leading the CCIW in nearly every offensive category, while Ed Mathey and his staff earned Coach of the Year honors, the fourth career honor for Mathey.

The Cardinal lineup features five players with a batting average of .330 or higher, led by Mateja's .420 average to go along with a team-leading 71 hits, 55 runs scored, 110 total bases, 21 stolen bases, a .651 slugging percentage and .493 on-base percentage, while reaching base safely in each of the last 36 games dating back to Mar. 20.

Sotiros leads the team with 55 RBI, 17 doubles and five homeruns, while ranking second on the team with 60 hits, four triples and a .581 slugging percentage.  Carmody ranks second on the team batting .354, while his 14 hit by pitches lead the team and five homeruns are tied with Sotiros for the team lead.

Senior catcher Chris Hill enters with a batting average of .339, smacking four homeruns and 13 doubles while driving in 34 and drawing a team-high 23 walks.  Jeremy Quade is hitting at a .330 clip this season, ranking second on the team with 49 runs scored.

The Cardinal pitching staff features three five-game winners, as Blunk is 5-2 with a 3.26 earned run average, striking out 29 over 47 innings pitched and walking just 11.  Blunk has allowed just two run and two walks over his last six starts totaling 34 innings.

Russell Hoh has posted a record of 5-1 this season with a 5.40 ERA over 47 innings, punching out 23 with just nine walks.  Nick Rogalski has won five games in 23 appearances, all out of the bullpen, while also saving seven games.

Anthony Serafini has also appeared in 23 games out of the pen this season, posting a 2-0 record with a 3.00 ERA, while Lucas Tevyaw has recorded a 2.08 ERA over 15 appearances.

Scouting Washington-St. Louis: WashU received one of the two pool B selections as the Bears do not belong to a conference in baseball.  The Bears enter the regional with an overall record of 26-8 and are ranked 14^th in the latest D3baseball.com Top 25 Poll.  The Bears pitching staff has been rock solid all season, ranking fifth in the nation with a team ERA of 3.01, while ranking second with a team WHIP of 1.1 with eight shutouts.

Brad Margolin has posted a perfect 9-0 record over 10 starts this season with a 1.70 ERA, leading the team with 61 strikeouts over 74 1/3 innings while holding opposing batters to a .176 average.  Jake Mintz is 4-0 in 13 appearances out of the bullpen with a 0.91 ERA, allowing just three earned runs over 29 2/3 innings this season with four saves.
Ben Browdy is leading the team in nearly every offensive category, batting .380 with team-leading 52 hits, 16 doubles, four homeruns, 82 total bases, .599 slugging percentage and .455 on-base percentage. 

Scouting Birmingham Southern: Birmingham Southern enters the regional ranked sixth in the latest D3baseball.com Top 25 Poll with a record of 36-8, as the Eagles received one of 14 at-large bids to the tournament after falling in the championship game of the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Tournament to Rhodes College.  The Panthers pitching staff is backed by a pair of 10-game winners in Ryan Gaines and Stephen Himic, as both enter with a perfect 10-0 record over 13 starts.

Gaines leads the team with 68 strikeouts over 88 1/3 innings with a 3.26 ERA, walking just 11, while Himic has posted a 2.09 ERA, allowing 18 earned runs over 77 1/3 innings, striking out 53.

Rich Misischia is batting a team-high .345 so far this season, while David Scott leads the team with 59 hits and 45 runs scored, while his 36 stolen bases currently rank fourth nationally.  Preston White has smacked a team-leading nine homeruns and 18 doubles, while Tyler Wise has driven in a team-high 46 runs.

Scouting Wartburg: Winners of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for the third straight season, the Knights also clinched the IIAC's automatic bid after going 3-0 in the IIAC Tournament and comes in with an overall record of 31-12.

The Knights stack a powerful offensive punch, hitting 23 homeruns as a team, led by Jacob Thumann's 12, ranking sixth among all Division III players.  Thumann also leads the team with 44 RBI, 11 doubles, 44 runs scored, 104 total bases and a .642 slugging percentage.  Eric Willis enters the regional batting at a .398 clip with a team-leading 72 hits, reaching base at a .464 clip.  Clay Henning has reached base in each of the last 40 games dating back to last season, leading the team with 30 walks while hitting .290 on the season.

On the mound, Taylor Gilson leads the Knights staff with a record of 9-1 over 13 starts with a 2.90 ERA, striking out 75 over 90 innings pitched.  Max Langheinrich sports a 6-1 record with a 2.76 ERA over 11 starts, striking out 68 batters over 78 1/3 innings.  Austin Bohling leads the staff with 18 appearances, all out of the pen, posting a 4-1 record with two saves and a 1.08 ERA.

Scouting Webster: The hosts of the 2017 Central Regional, the Gorloks enter with a record of 29-13, receiving one of the 14 at-large bids to the tournament after being eliminated from the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Tournament by eventual champion Greenville College.
The Gorloks are backed by a few power arms on the pitching staff, as the team's 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings lead the nation while their 3.01 ERA currently ranks fourth among all Division III staffs.  Josh Fleming leads the nation with a miniscule 0.52 ERA and a 0.67 WHIP, while posting an 8-0 record over 12 starts, ranking four in the country with 108 strikeouts over his 84 2/3 innings pitched. 
Kyle Uhrich currently leads the nation averaging 13.9 strikeouts per game while allowing only 3.56 hits per nine innings.  Uhrich has struck out 86 batters over 55 2/3 innings, leading the team with 17 appearances, including six starts, sporting a 7-2 record with a 2.26 ERA. 

Matt Wollnik currently leads the Gorlok offense batting .349 on the season, with a team-high 32 RBI and 33 runs scored, and is tied with Conner Wardlaw for the team-lead with 52 hits.  Webster has hit 27 homeruns so far this season, led by Uhrich's six bombs while Ben Dinter has launched five.

Scouting Greenville: Greenville is making their second appearance in the NCAA Tournament after winning the SLIAC Tournament, securing the first 30-win season in program history as the Panthers enter the regional with a record of 30-15.

The Greenville offense features a lot of pop, entering tournament play ranked 16^th nationally with 37 homeruns, as Jesse Getz and Travis Ralls have each gone deep nine times this season, while Mike Hardin has hit six long balls so far.
Getz and Ralls are also each batting over .400, as Getz leads the team with a .406 average, 51 runs scored and 26 walks. Ralls is batting an even .400 while leading the team with 66 hits, 15 doubles, 45 RBI and 21 stolen bases.
The Panther staff comes in with a team ERA of 4.04, as Jonah Moore is 8-2 with a 3.23 ERA, leading the squad with 47 strikeouts over 64 innings.  Klaiton Wolff has appeared in 20 games this season, all in relief, saving nine games with an ERA of 1.57 with 24 strikeouts over 23 innings.  Austin Rexroad leads the team with 21 appearances, sporting a 2.76 ERA with 33 strikeouts over 32 2/3 innings.

Cardinals in the Record Book: Sotiros now has two of the top 10 spots on the program's single-season doubles list as his 22 from last season rank atop the list and his 17 from this season currently rank tied for fourth.  Sotiros' 55 RBI this season currently rank seventh on the program's single-season list, while his 68 hits from last season rank tied for fourth.  Additionally, his 11 hit by pitches rank eighth and his 110 total bases in 2016 rank 10th.

Mateja's seven triples this season tied the single-season record set by Kory Witmer in 1994, while his 71 hits this season rank third in program history, just five shy of tying the single-season record.  His 55 runs scored this season rank third, 21 stolen bases rank fifth and 110 total bases are tied with Sotiros for 10th.

Quade holds the top two spots in single-season at-bats, as his 190 in 2016 set the single-season mark and his 179 this season rank second.  His 24 stolen bases in 2016 rank second, while his 46 runs scored last season rank tied for 10th.  Additionally, Carmody's 14 hit by pitches are the fourth most in single-season history.

Hill is currently tied for the program's all-time lead in doubles with 44, while Sotiros sits tied for sixth with 39.  Sotiros' eight triples also rank eighth on the career list, while Mateja's 39 stolen bases are tied for seventh.  Three Cardinals currently rank in the career top-10 in sacrifice flies, as Hill sits sixth with eight, while Mateja and Sing Fong are tied for eighth with seven.  Fong's six sacrifice flies this season currently sit tied for second on the single-season list.

On the mound, Rogalski and Serafini both tied the program record for single-season appearances with 23, while Rogalksi's seven saves this season are tied for the single-season record.

Rogalksi's 11 career saves over the last two seasons currently rank tied for second on the program's career list, while Blunk's 14 career victories sit in a five-way tie for 10th.

Team Single-Season Records: The Cardinals entered the top-10 in multiple single-season categories so far this season, breaking the single-season record with 63 hit by pitches this season, while ranking second in putouts (1,078), fourth in sacrifice flies (22), fifth in hits (461) and shutouts (2), sixth in total bases (636) and saves (9), seventh in runs scored (304) and runs batted in (273), and 10^th in stolen bases (69). 

National Rankings: Mateja's seven triples rank seventh nationally among all NCAA Division III players, while his 55 runs scored rank seventh, 71 hits rank 13th and 110 total bases rank 15th.  Sotiros currently ranks sixth in RBI with 55, while his 17 doubles rank 32nd.

Rogalski and Serafini each rank eighth in appearances with 23 each, while Rogalski's seven saves rank 20th nationally.