The SIU club baseball team hopes to return to the success of the nationally-ranked team five years ago.

The team was ranked No. 6 in the National Club Baseball Association poll in 2009 and No. 3 in 2010. Since then, the team has been competing with University of Illinois the last three years for the District VII-North Conference championship.

Kenny Thorne, a senior from Tinley Park studying sports administration and Kyle Miller, a junior from Murphysboro studying electrical and computer engineering, took over as presidents from Michael Ingram, who graduated last year.

“We have big shoes to fill,” Miller said. “[Ingram] taught me a great lesson in not playing outside of our skill range. I am going to try to follow that.”

Thorne said he and Miller had leadership experience before. Ingram had to miss two weeks during last year’s spring season when the season was on the line. Thorne and Miller took over for him during that stretch.

Thorne said the team is comprised of a good mix of veteran leadership and talented youth.

“We have eight new guys, five freshman and three players who are just getting into club baseball,” Thorne said. “They are at the same level, if not better, than the players that graduated last season.”

Colin White, a junior from Villa Park studying secondary education and social sciences, serves as vice president of the club. He said the team was supposed to host the fourth annual Saluki Slugfest the weekend of Oct. 10, but it was cancelled because of inclement weather.

Miller said it was disappointing to have to cancel the tournament because it is the main source of fundraising for the team and would have given the team four or five more games for experience.

Miller said the funding is not necessary but is helpful.

“Those funds usually keep player dues low,” he said. “When we travel, hotel rooms get expensive. We also have to ensure that we get the new guys jerseys and hats when they join the team.”

The team has had tougher competition this year, and their 4-6 record shows it; Thorne said it is worse than their record at this time last year.

The team plays in division two of the National Club Baseball Association. Teams are placed in division one or two based on the amount of money they receive from its university for funding.

According to the NCBA website, DII teams pay an annual team fee of $1,500 while DI teams pay $1,700.

Miller said the team stays in DII not because of money, but because the university does not have a large student population to choose from. He said schools like U of I can gather enough students to have a DI and DII team.

“We have been playing more division one teams because we can make our own schedule in the fall,” White said. “We lost close games to Indiana University and Louisiana State University so far this year, which is a good indication of where our team is at.”

Thorne said at the end of fall season last year, the team had a record of 25-4. That team went on to finish the season one game short of regional playoffs.

“Last year was our best chance we have had in a couple years,” he said. “Our team is going to schedule as many games as we can in mid-to-late February so we can try to avoid that same outcome.”

He said the team struggled in the spring season because weather forced more games to be cancelled after winter break. Thorne said he is going to schedule tournaments in the south where weather is sure to be better.

White said this year’s team is struggling to manufacture runs, but the pitching and defense are keeping the team in games. The team becomes competent late in the game and they need to continue to attack on offense to help the pitchers out.

“Our pitching has been phenomenal,” he said. “Kyle Miller and Kenny Thorne are our aces on the mound and our roster is deep. We can play two guys at every position and have confidence in our team.”

Miller said he is looking forward to the games the team will play the next two weekends. Next weekend the team travels to Purdue University, a DI team.

Miller said he does not expect the team to win all three games, but if they could win two, he would be happy with the results.

“I’m more excited about the tournament in Arkansas the following weekend,” he said. “I think it’s feasible to say we should win that tournament. There will be a combination of division one and two teams, but I think our team has played strong enough to win it.”

Miller said he wants to be playing in the playoffs this season, specifically the Club Baseball World Series.

Brent Meske can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @brentmeskeDE.