A terrible night in a miserable season

Southeast Missouri State football teams have no doubt had worse overall performances than what transpired Saturday night at Houck Stadium.

But it's probably hard to remember when.

The Redhawks' miserable season continued with a 48-24 loss to Eastern Illinois. And, as much of a blowout as that final score was, it actually wound up considerably closer than the game itself.

Southeast trailed 48-10 early in the fourth quarter, at which time the Panthers cleared their bench, which likely had plenty to do with the Redhawks scoring the final 14 points.

Through three periods, the Panthers had a lopsided 377 to 100 edge in total yardage, and they finished with a possession edge of 38:43 to 21:17. Southeast committed six turnovers.

Not that Southeast's defense was anything special, but if the Redhawks' defenders had not been stubborn on several deep EIU drives that failed to produce points, the Panthers might have rung up 70 points before the final period even started.

True freshman quarterback Markus Mosley, making his first start, struggled, but that was not unexpected because that's a rough spot to put any rookie in.

Senior quarterback Mike Haley, who started four of the first five games, produced two long touchdown drives in the final 11 minutes, as he made a case to regain his job, but that performance still had to be tempered somewhat by the fact the Panthers had primarily reserves in the game.

The bottom line is that Southeast fell to 0-6 overall and 0-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference. And, considering the emergence of Tennessee-Martin, the Redhawks will likely be solid underdogs in four of their final five games, with only the Tennessee State contest at home on Nov. 12 looking like anything resembling a tossup right now.

Now, that's not set in stone, and if the Redhawks can get their act together at least somewhat, they still could conceivably squeeze out a few wins before the year is over. On the other hand, an 0-11 season certainly doesn't appear to be out of the question.

But there is good news for the Redhawks on the immediate horizon. They won't suffer another loss this coming week -- they've got an open date.

Former Southeast baseball star Hal Hempen, who was killed in June during a freak accident involving lightning on a golf course in Tennessee, is gone but certainly far from forgotten.

The first annual Hal Hempen Memorial Golf Outing, held Sept. 24 at Indian Hills Golf Course in Mt. Vernon, Ill., attracted 140 golfers, with more than 68 hole sponsors and over 160 attendance prizes.

Hempen family members told me that the turnout for the golf outing exceeded their expectations. A host of relatives and friends were involved in putting on the event.

Donations exceeded $12,000, with the money being split between the Illinois Special Olympics and Ted Nugent Kamp for Kids Handicap Youth Hunt, two of Hempen's passions.

Things went so well, I've been told that plans are already in the works for the second annual Hal Hempen Memorial Golf Outing, set for Sept. 23, 2006 in Mt. Vernon.

Hempen, who played baseball at Southeast in 1986 and 1987, still ranks as one of the program's all-time top relief pitchers. He ranks second in career saves with 10 and single-season saves with eight.

The Cardinals may or may not win the World Series this year -- who knows if they'll even make it that far -- but at least it appears as if they won't slip up during the opening round of baseball's playoffs.

St. Louis took a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five National League Division Series against the Padres entering Saturday night's late -- very late -- third game at San Diego that didn't get started until after 10 p.m. in Cape Girardeau.

Not many people expected the Padres, who finished with a pedestrian 82-80 regular-season record, to give the Cardinals much of a challenge.

For the first two games at least, that was right on the money. St. Louis pretty much had its way with San Diego, building big early leads on the way to 8-5 and 6-2 victories.

Whether or not the Cardinals wrapped up the series early this morning, it's hard to imagine them losing three straight to the Padres.

You've got to figure things will get a lot tougher in the NLCS, but the Cardinals still look like they'll be fairly difficult to beat.

And, for Redbird fans still smarting over last year's World Series rout at the hands of Boston, the Red Sox won't have a chance to spoil your party this time since they were swept by the Chicago White Sox in an ALDS.

It appears as if the NL Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards will come down to extremely tight battles.

St. Louis righthander Chris Carpenter looked for a long time to have a decided edge over Florida lefthander Dontrelle Willis, but Willis had made a strong late push while Carpenter struggled down the stretch.

Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols has Atlanta center fielder Andruw Jones beat in a lot of categories, but Jones has surpassed 50 home runs and has more RBIs than Pujols, which could go a long way toward swaying the voters. That race looks like it could be headed to a photo finish.

Considering that the Cardinals had baseball's best regular-season record, you've got to think Carpenter and Pujols both have solid chances of winning those awards -- but, like I said, things figure to be very close.

Also, don't forget about Tony La Russa for NL Manager of the Year. With all the injuries the Cardinals had this year, to keep the team humming along, you've got to give La Russa all the props in the world.

It's been a good year for area high school softball so far, with three teams winning district championships over the last two days.

Good luck to Notre Dame, Chaffee and Kelly as they participate in sectional games Wednesday.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.