Four Baseball Cougars Earn All-OVC Honors

Four Baseball Cougars Earn All-OVC Honors

May 22, 2024, 12:10 PM

Four SIUE Cougars have landed on the All-Ohio Valley Conference baseball team.

Lucas Spence picked up a First Team selection as an outfielder while infielder Ryan Niedzwiedz, outfielder Daniel Gierer and pitcher Joseph Martin each earned spots on the All-Freshman team.

Entering the OVC Championship, Spence leads the league in hitting with a .382 batting average, which ranks third in a single season during SIUE's Division I era. He leads the league in hits per game at 1.53 and is second overall with 81 hits, which is two hits shy of SIUE's single season record at Division I. He also is second in the OVC with a .470 on-base percentage.

Niedzwiedz leads the Cougars with 11 home runs and 50 RBIs and is one of only two players to start all 54 games this season for SIUE.

Gierer has appeared in 48 games, making 42 starts for SIUE. He has hit .275 with seven doubles, four home runs and 19 RBIs. He leads the Cougars and is tied for seventh in the OVC with 16 stolen bases.

Martin has made 16 appearances out of the SIUE bullpen and worked to a 2-0 and team-best 3.63 earned run average. He struck out 27 hitters in 22.1 innings. In seven OVC appearances, Martin had an ERA of 2.38.

SIUE is the No. 7 seed at the OVC Championship, which gets underway Wednesday. The Cougars will open play with No. 6 Eastern Illinois at 12:30 p.m.

PHOTO: Ryan Niedzwiedz, Lucas Spence, Daniel Gierer, Joseph Martin