Rained out on Wednesday, Southwestern Illinois College got back to playing baseball Thursday and flourished.
John Flanagan tossed a complete-game five-hitter and Jeff Ericson drove in four runs with a home run and double as the Blue Storm knocked off No. 2-seeded Olney 5-3 in the opening round of the NJCAA Region 24 Tournament at Rent One Park in Marion.
Seeded seventh, the Blue Storm (32-17) advance into a 3 p.m. quarterfinal Saturday against the winner of a game between Kaskaskia and Lincoln Trail.
"It's really good to get off to a good start because in an eight-team tournament, if you get into that losers' bracket right away you have a long tournament ahead of you," said SWIC coach Neil Fiala in a telephone interview. "It's key to get that first win."
Flanagan, a freshman left-hander from Belleville West, set the tone with his sixth complete game of the season. The economical Flanagan (5-4) struck out five, walked one and needed only 102 pitches to get through nine innings.
"He really pitched well," Fiala said. "John, like the rest of us, was all anxious to get it going. Yesterday was typical of the whole season where we get rained out and are at the mercy of the weather.
"It was a good win because he was zoned in. He really pitched well and was throwing strikes and keeping the ball down."
SWIC jumped on Olney starter Travis Lamar -- who threw a three-hitter against SWIC on March 29 --for two runs in the third on a two-out, two-run homer by Ericson.
After Olney tied it in the fourth, Ericson put the Blue Storm back on top in the fifth. Merrick Conway (Triad) and Jordan Colvin (O'Fallon) both singled and scored on a two-run double by Ericson, who leads the club with 44 RBIs.
"Jeff came through big-time when we needed him today," Fiala said. "(Lamar) was sort of mowing people down and Jeff had the big bomb there in the third. After they tie it up, he comes right back with a big double and puts us right back on top. That was big. He had a gigantic day."
SWIC added a run in the sixth on a two-out RBI triple by Josh Schaefer (Althoff). Schaefer, Conway, Colvin, Ericson and Chris Thomas each had two hits for the Blue Storm.
"Our guys came through in the hitting department," Fiala said. "This makes our record 32-17 now and literally 10 of those losses were by a run or two. We just missed a hit here and there.
"It was good to get the hits today and hopefully, we can stay hot the rest of the tournament."
• Rain also wiped out the start of the NAIA Region V Tournament at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo., on Wednesday, pushing all games to Thursday.
McKendree (30-24) was playing Avila University (32-13) in the late game Thursday, which started at 9 p.m. Results were not available at press time.
• Rain delayed the start Thursday of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament at GCS Ballpark in Sauget.
The result of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's opening-round game against Saint Joseph's was not available at press time. In the first game, Indianapolis defeated Southern Indiana 14-2.
Contact reporter Rod Kloeckner at rkloeckner@bnd.com or 239-2663.
