Hogan's retirement

He's a hometown boy who loved baseball, went to the local university, played some college ball and came back to coach the program.

Mark Hogan, who directed the Southeast Missouri State University baseball team for 18 seasons, has coached his last game, announcing recently that he was retiring.

Hogan finished with a 526-456-1 record at Southeast, winning the Ohio Valley Conference regular season title in 1998 and tournament championships in 1998 and 2002. He also coached 13 All-Americans.

"It's been an incredible ride," Hogan said. "This university has meant everything to me. I met my wife at Southeast Missouri State. All of my children went to Southeast Missouri State."

The Southeast Missouri State baseball program has been steady and solid over the years -- not always runaway winners, but never horrible. His teams finished in the top two in the OVC 11 times, and finished below .500 only four times in his 18 years. There were plenty of highlights along the way, including broken records, two appearances in the NCAA tournament and the advancement of several players into the professional ranks. His players typically performed well in the classroom also. It's been a great run.

Hogan is being replaced on an interim basis by assistant Steve Bieser, also a Southeast alumnus. Bieser, 45, graduated from Southeast in 1989 and has served as the team's pitching coach for the last two seasons. Bieser, who graduated from Ste. Genevieve High School, was selected in the 32nd round of the 1989 major league amateur draft by the Phillies. He played professionally from 1989 through 2001. He appeared in 60 games with the Mets and Pirates during a two-year major league stint. Bieser will serve as interim for the coming year, and hopes to continue on long past this year.

Congratulations and good luck to Hogan and Bieser as they begin their new chapters.