SIU Edwardsville Cougars baseball

SIU Edwardsville Cougars baseball
2025 SIU Edwardsville Cougars baseball team
Founded	1968
University	Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Head coach	Sean Lyons (9th season)
Conference	Ohio Valley
Location	Edwardsville, Illinois
Home stadium	Roy E. Lee Field at Simmons Baseball Complex (Capacity: 1,500)
Nickname	Cougars
Colors	Red and white[1]
College World Series appearances
Division II 1972, 1976, 1977, 1983, 1985,1991, 1997, 2001
NCAA Tournament appearances
Division II 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2006, 2007
Conference tournament champions
GLVC: 1997, 1998
Regular season conference champions
GLVC: 2007 GLVC South: 1997, 1998, 2001

The SIU Edwardsville Cougars baseball team represents Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in NCAA Division I college baseball. They compete as members of the Ohio Valley Conference. SIUE plays its home games at Roy E. Lee Field at Simmons Baseball Complex, located in the northwest corner of the campus.[2]

History

The Cougars baseball program was started in 1967–68 by Roy Lee, who headed it for its first eleven years. In that time, his teams built a record of 237–144–3, going to 8 consecutive NCAA Division II playoffs and 3 Division II College World Series, with a runner-up finish in 1976.

After Coach Lee's retirement, the program was led for 34 years by SIUE alumnus Gary Collins. Collins' teams won 1028 games (with 766 loses & 7 ties). While still in Division II, his teams made 14 NCAA appearances and went to the Division II College World Series 5 times. He led them into Division I and the Ohio Valley Conference, where the Cougars completed their first season in the OVC in 2012 with an overall record of 27–28 and a conference record of 13–14, which tied for fifth place in the ten-team league.[3]

In 2012, Gary Collins moved from coaching to become SIUE's first Director of Development for Intercollegiate Athletics.[4]

With Collins' job change, after thirteen seasons as Collins' assistant, SIUE alumnus Tony Stoecklin was named acting head coach for 2013 and continued as head coach from 2014.[5]

The 2014 squad became the first to qualify for the OVC Baseball Tournament, earning the No. 4 seed in the six team field.[6]

Stoecklin was reassigned within the athletic department in mid-April 2016, with assistant Danny Jackson named as interim coach and a national search for a new coach to be launched after the season.[7]

On June 24, 2016, Sean Lyons, the associate head coach at Bradley, was named the fourth head coach in Cougars' history.[8]

Record by year

Statistics overview

Season	Coach	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
SIU Edwardsville (Division II Independent[9]) (1968–1995)
1968	Roy E. Lee	8–5
1969	Roy E. Lee	11–14
1970	Roy E. Lee	23–5			Regional 2nd
1971	Roy E. Lee	23–13			Regional 2nd
1972	Roy E. Lee	31–5–2			3rd DII CWS
1973	Roy E. Lee	26–8			Regional 6th
1974	Roy E. Lee	25–12			Regional 4th
1975	Roy E. Lee	23–13			Regional 4th
1976	Roy E. Lee	30–21			2nd DII CWS
1977	Roy E. Lee	25–18–1			8th DII CWS
1978	Roy E. Lee	12–20
Roy E. Lee:		237–144–3 .621
1979	Gary Collins	15–26
1980	Gary Collins	26–27
1981	Gary Collins	33–27
1982	Gary Collins	34–21			Regional 4th
1983	Gary Collins	35–15			4th DII CWS
1984	Gary Collins	22–23
1985	Gary Collins	36–15–1			6th DII CWS
1986	Gary Collins	39–21			Regional 4th
1987	Gary Collins	40–15–1			Regional 2nd
1988	Gary Collins	28–20
1989	Gary Collins	31–18			Regional 2nd
1990	Gary Collins	36–14			Regional 2nd
1991	Gary Collins	43–17			5th DII CWS
1992	Gary Collins	36–20–1			Regional 3rd
1993	Gary Collins	19–18
1994	Gary Collins	23–27–2
1995	Gary Collins	31–17–1
SIU Edwardsville (Great Lakes Valley Conference (Div. II)[10]) (1996–2008)
1996	Gary Collins	29–22	17–11	3rd
1997	Gary Collins	37–19	17–9	South 1st	5th DII CWS
1998	Gary Collins	38–15	16–4	South 1st	Regional 2nd
1999	Gary Collins	35–19	17–8	South 2nd
2000	Gary Collins	33–23	19–8	South 2nd
2001	Gary Collins	41–27	19–8	South 1st	5th DII CWS
2002	Gary Collins	30–24	16–12	4th
2003	Gary Collins	24–26	17–13	2nd
2004	Gary Collins	20–32	17–22	7th
2005	Gary Collins	28–27	19–21	7th
2006	Gary Collins	40–19–1	30–14–1	4th	Regional 3rd
2007	Gary Collins	37–17	26–10	1st	Regional 5th
2008	Gary Collins	25–26	18–14	West 2nd
SIU Edwardsville (Division I Independent) (2009–2010)
2009	Gary Collins	15–39
2010	Gary Collins	14–38
SIU Edwardsville (Ohio Valley Conference[11]) (2011–present)
2011	Gary Collins	28–24	Not eligible
2012	Gary Collins	27–28	14–13	6th
Gary Collins:		1028 –766–7 .573
2013	Tony Stoecklin	16–35	10–20	t-8th
2014	Tony Stoecklin	21–33	16–14	t-4th
2015	Tony Stoecklin	20–30	19–11	3rd
2016	Tony Stoecklin	7–27	4–14	11th
Tony Stoecklin:		64–125 .339
2016	Danny Jackson (Interim)	2–13	2–10	11th
Danny Jackson:		2–13 .133
2017	Sean Lyons	23–29	11–19	10th
2018	Sean Lyons	15–37	6–24	11th
2019	Sean Lyons	19–32	11–19	9th
2020	Sean Lyons	8–7	3–1	t-1st ¶
2021	Sean Lyons	23-27	13-17	9th
2022	Sean Lyons	27-28	12-12	5th
2023	Sean Lyons	21-14	5-4
Sean Lyons:		132–171 .436
Total:		1439-1040-10 .580
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

¶ = season ended early by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notable former players

Through the years, many Cougars have gone on to play professionally, and twenty-one have been named All-Americans for their play at SIUE.

• Mike Allaria/Third Base 1972
• Nick Baltz/Pitcher 1975
• Tim Bateman/Pitcher 1990
• Mark Bugger/Shortstop 2000 & Second Base 2001
• Dan Cole/ First Base1972
• Ryan Cox/ Pitcher 1997
• Tim Degener/Catcher 1991
• Pete Delkus/Pitcher 1985
• Tony Duenas/First Base & Pitcher 1985
• Doug Duncan/First Base 1994
• Bret Giaudrone/Pitcher 2001
• Kyle Jones/Pitcher 2006
• Chris Kabbes/Outfield 1992
• Chad Opel/Shortstop 2001
• Dustin Quattrocchi/Pitcher 2012
• P.J. Riley/Outfield 1989
• Mike Robertson/Third Base 1997
• Ted Smith/Pitcher 1983
• John Urban/Third Base 1976
• Darrell Wehrend/Outfield 1982
• Matt Wilkinson/Pitcher 2001

• The most successful professional baseball player out of SIUE was John "Champ" Summers who played only one season for the Cougars before signing a pro contract after being seen by a major league scout while playing softball. Summers played for six teams during an eleven-year Major League career.
• Clay Zavada has pitched in the majors for the Arizona Diamondbacks, but is possibly better known for his award-winning mustache.
• Over the years, more than fifty former Cougars have played baseball in the major and minor leagues, but most have gone on to careers in other fields.

See also

• List of NCAA Division I baseball programs
• Roy E. Lee Field at Simmons Baseball Complex

References

1. "Ohio Valley Conference Style Guide" (PDF). June 20, 2022. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
2. SIUE
3. "SIUE Cougars Official Athletic Site". Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
4. SIUE : Collins Transitions from Head Coach to Development
5. SIUE : Stoecklin Named Acting Head Baseball Coach
6. "Field Set for 2014 OVC Baseball Championship".
7. "SIU-Edwardsville Opening Provides Potential, Challenges in Equal Measure". College Baseball Central. April 20, 2016. Retrieved June 16, 2016.^[permanent dead link‍]
8. "Lyons Selected as Head Baseball Coach". Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. June 21, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
9. "SIUE Baseball Coaching Records". Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
10. "Baseball GLVC Records Book" (PDF). Great Lakes Valley Conference. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
11. "Baseball Archives". Ohio Valley Conference. Retrieved July 13, 2015.

External links

• Official website