BASEBALL: Southern Utah University will face a familiar foe this weekend in the opening round of The Summit League baseball tournament when the T-Birds face the South Dakota State

Jackrabbits on Thursday afternoon. SUU finished the regular season 1-3against SDSU, including its most recent three-game losing streak.

The tournament berth is the second consecutive for the Thunderbirds after missing the postseason in 2006 and 2007,prior to a streak of six consecutive years, leading up to the 2006 season.

Southern Utah will be looking to return to the championship game for a second consecutive year as well, after falling to Oral Roberts 9-0 during the final game of the tournament in 2008.

The Thunderbirds will enter the tournament with an overall record of 26-22 with a great deal of those wins attributed to the strong hitting that has carried the team throughout the season. SUU is averaging .319 from the plate with eight players batting above .300 from the dish. The team has tallied 348 runs to its opponents' 320 during the year, including 48 home runs to the opponents' 30.

The tournament is a double-elimination format with the Thunderbirds opening with the Jackrabbits, Thursday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. The winner of that game will then advance to play Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. The championship game is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.

Southern Utah had to take the difficult route to the championship game in 2008 after falling to the Western Illinois Leathernecks 9-6 in the opening round. The loss dropped the Thunderbirds into the losers bracket of the double-elimination tournament and a game with Centenary in round two.

The T-Birds posted a 4-1 victory over the Gents, eliminating Centenary and then finally broke through against Western Illinois in the night cap of round two with a 9-3 victory. The win in the evening was thanks to four home runs belted by Thunderbird bats.

The run came to an end in the championship game as Southern Utah fell 9-0 to eventual league champion Oral Roberts on Saturday. The Thunderbirds lost head coach David Eldredge and starting pitcher Kyle Melling due to ejections during the game in an emotionally charged contest.

Following the game, Mac Nelson, Jacob Noyes and Nick Freitas were each named to The Summit League all-tournament team.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: The Summit League recorded the NCAA's largest men's basketball attendance increase during the 2008-09 season.

An average of 617 more fans per game moved the league up six spots to a No. 16 ranking according to the national attendance figures recently released by the NCAA.