Over its 33 seasons of existence, the Shawnee State baseball program has put together significant milestones.

Five straight NAIA Regional Tournament appearances from 1999 to 2003. Four straight 30-win seasons from 1998 to 2001. An NAIA World Series appearance in 2000. A conference tournament title and a regional qualifying birth in 2011.

However, the Bears had never ripped off a winning streak that reached double-digit games.

That all changed on Thursday.

Rob Ehlers' group used a combined five-hitter from Wheelersburg talent Ethan Ison and Greenup, Ky.'s Carson Wireman, along with a flawless defense that didn't commit an error, to collect Game 1 by a 3-1 margin. Then, the Bears got a five-hitter through eight innings of work from Texas native Eric Oakes in Game 2 and five RBI between Buckeye State strongholds Hunter Warner and Noah Sniadach to account for all five Shawnee State runs in Game 2, leading to a 5-0 triumph that allowed the 2024 version of the Shawnee State baseball program to become the first team in the history of the program to hit double-digits in consecutive wins with 3-1 and 5-0 victories over Indiana-Kokomo Thursday evening at Kokomo Municipal Stadium in the River States Conference Championship's Opening Round.

Shawnee State (25-19), who broke a tie with the 2001 and 2000 units for the longest winning streak in program history by winning the first game of the best-of-three series, clinched the No. 3 overall seed in the upcoming River States Conference Tournament with its victory in the second affair by winning the RSC Championship Opening Round Series between the Bears, the second-place RSC-East Division unit, and IU-Kokomo (30-19), the second-place RSC-West Division unit.

SSU already clinched its first bid to the conference tournament's final site since 2015 well prior to the first pitch of Thursday's doubleheader, but the Bears, in wrapping up the best-of-three series on Thursday, sealed the highest conference seeding for the program since 2011 -- the last time that Shawnee State won a conference tournament title in baseball.

Game 1

Fueled by poised pitching from Ison and Wireman, coupled with a flawless defense that didn't commit an error in 18 defensive chances, Shawnee State never let Indiana-Kokomo get comfortable throughout any portion of the doubleheader. This was especially the case in Game 1, where IU-Kokomo put at least one baserunner in scoring position in six out of the first eight innings of play -- but only got one runner in as Ison and Wireman effectively pitched out of any trouble that the duo faced. The pair combined to strike out nine batters while allowing just five hits in the contest, with Tahj Borom's RBI double in the second inning being the only salvo for IU-Kokomo in Game 1.

The Cougars, who held a 1-0 lead after the second inning of work behind Borom's double, saw the slim lead evaporate relatively quickly as Shawnee State, with its three-through-five-hole hitters scheduled to come up in the fourth, made dust fly in a hurry. Noah Sniadach, who was clutch all evening long, shot a leadoff double down the right field line to begin the fourth inning, while Eric Oakes followed up Sniadach with an RBI double down the left field line in the next at-bat, tying the score at a run apiece. Oakes then later scored on a balk call to give Shawnee State a 2-1 lead through the contest's middle innings.

With one out in the sixth frame, Oakes came through again -- as his one-out double set the table up for Michael De Jesus, who rocketed a ball to right field for an important RBI base knock that provided an insurance run for the Bears as SSU took a 3-1 lead after six complete.

Wireman, who took over on the bump with two outs in the fifth inning, proved to be money again -- as the freshman allowed just two hits over four-and-a-third innings of work to pick up his second save of the year. Entering the contest with a 1.88 ERA in his back pocket, the talented freshman lowered that number to 1.72 as No. 19 continues to showcase himself as not just one of the latest, but one of the more talented players to come out of the Greenup County baseball pipeline.

Game 2

For the first seven innings of Game 2, the contest remained a 0-0 deadlock as Shawnee State pitching talent Eric Oakes and Indiana-Kokomo pitching standout Dylan Keever traded darts on the hill.

However, when Keever was replaced by Cougar reliever Victor Fujiu in the eighth frame, the Bears proceeded to make Fujiu's life difficult.

A leadoff walk by Tyler Lund was followed two batters later by an RBI double down the left field line by Nolan Tressler, and following Tressler's base knock, Hunter Warner's RBI infield single and Noah Sniadach's RBI base knock to right field gave Shawnee State a critical 2-0 lead in the late stages of the game after eight frames of work.

As with the opener, the Bears also added on critical insurance, as a hit batter and a bunt single by Lund put Indiana-Kokomo in a tough spot.

With Tressler coming back up to bat, the Cougars elected to intentionally walk the .395 hitter to load the bases in the hopes of getting an inning-ending double-play. That plan, however, backfired -- as Warner and Sniadach, again, came through in a massive light with a two-RBI single to left center and an RBI single that plated three major insurance runs. Brock Kitchen and Jimmy Bodrock came on in place of Oakes to work the ninth frame and, together, retired the IU-Kokomo side in order to seal the win.

Oakes, who got the win, threw a five-hitter through eight innings of action. The senior from Tomball, Texas struck out three batters but only walked a single IU-Kokomo hand in his 103 pitches on the mound.

Additional

Shawnee State was led by Nolan Tressler (4-for-7, two doubles, walk, two runs scored), Noah Sniadach (3-for-7, double, run scored) and Hunter Warner (3-for-9, three RBI) in both contests. Eric Oakes' 2-for-3 effort with two doubles, a walk, an RBI and two runs scored in Game 1 and Tyler Lund's 2-for-3 outing with a walk and two runs scored in Game 2 rounded out the main producers at the plate for SSU.

The SSU baseball program will await the conclusion of the River States Conference Championship's Opening Round to see who it faces at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe in the RSC Conference Tournament, which is scheduled to run from Thursday, May 2 to Sunday, May 5.

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