Iowa Conference Tournament opens Thursday

INDIANOLA, Iowa - The Simpson baseball team begins play in the Iowa Conference Tournament on Thursday when it faces Luther at Daniels Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.

The fourth-seeded Storm (21-16, 13-10 Iowa Conference) will vie for the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship. Simpson went 2-1 during the regular season against its first round opponent, fifth-seeded Luther (23-17, 13-11).

Tournament Field
Top-seeded Coe (29-10, 18-6) won its first Iowa Conference Championship in 2011, sweeping Simpson on the last weekend of the regular season. Defending tournament champion Buena Vista (25-13, 16-8) earned the No. 2 seed, followed by third-seeded Wartburg (23-16, 16-8). Central (22-17, 12-12) rounds out the six-team, double-elimination tournament.

Game Notes
This year marks Simpson's ninth consecutive appearance in the IIAC Tournament, appearing every year with the exception of 2002 ... the Storm own an overall record of 31-25 in the league tournament, one of three teams above the .500 mark ... Coe and Wartburg are the other two ... after starting the conference season 7-0, Simpson lost 10 of its last 16 league games ... the Storm went 5-10 against the teams in the tournament field.

At Bat
The Storm are led by the program's all-time hits leader, Dave Johnson (West Des Moines, Iowa). He is hitting .381 this year with three home runs and a team-high 31 RBIs. He also leads the way with eight doubles and seven triples. He had 17 multi-hit games and 10 multiple-RBI games for the Storm.

Johnson recorded the 178th hit of his career in the final regular season game of the season, a 1-0 loss to Coe. In game one, he became the program's all-time leader in assists and currently has 321. He is also first in total bases (294) and triples (15) and ranks second in RBIs (111) and doubles (38).

Catcher Drew Yarkosky (Albia, Iowa) is second on the team with a .349 average and outfielder Tyler Crandell (Ames, Iowa) is a perfect 14-for-14 on stolen bases.

On the Mound
Simpson boasts a deep staff which features three pitchers with over 50 innings of work. Simpson starters threw 15 complete games in 2011.

Mike Huyser (Indianola, Iowa) led the team with a 3.27 ERA on the season, going 5-5 in 10 starts. The staff's most versatile pitcher, Chris Doff (Urbandale, Iowa) led the team with a 6-5 record while logging a team-high 71.2 innings. He struck out 57 batters, tops on the team and third in the league. He also made four relief appearances, tallying two saves.

Paul Brown (Polk City, Iowa) went 5-3 with a 3.40 ERA in nine appearances and Kyle Ruhele (Cherokee, Iowa) went 2-2 with a 4.09 ERA in 33 innings of work.

For complete matchups, tournament information, results and links to live stats and video visit iowaconference.com.