Baseball fans can get sneak preview of 'Hawks

The team will play five intrasquad games over the next eight days.

The start of Southeast Missouri State's baseball season is still several months away, but fans will have an opportunity to get an early look at the Redhawks five times over the next week.

Southeast will conclude its fall workouts with what coach Mark Hogan has dubbed "The Steak and Beans World Series."

Beginning today at 3:40 p.m. at Capaha Field, the Redhawks will play five intrasquad games over the next eight days. The group that wins the series will have their taste buds rewarded at a team dinner later this fall.

"The winning side gets to eat steak and the losers eat pork and beans," Hogan said. "So some will eat better than others.

"Most teams end their fall practices with some kind of intrasquad series, and this is just a fun way to spice it up. You'll be surprised how hard the kids will play."

In addition to today's first game, there will be games Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. All the starting times are 3:40 p.m.

Hogan said fans are welcome to attend.

"We'd love to have people come out and watch," he said.

Hogan said he has been pleased with fall workouts, which began on Sept. 27, and he's looking forward to topping things off with this series.

"It's a good evaluation tool for us," Hogan said. "We've got a lot of new faces this year, and a lot of guys are competing for spots. It's been interesting."

Soccer has big homestand

Southeast's hopes of winning the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season soccer title took a hit last week, but the Redhawks are still in the championship hunt as they prepare for two home matches.

Southeast (8-3-1, 3-1-1) plays Jacksonville State (6-6-1, 3-2) today at 7 p.m. and two-time defending OVC regular-season champion Samford (8-3-2, 3-2) at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Houck Stadium.

The Redhawks are in third place in the 10-team OVC with 10 points, behind Eastern Illinois with 13 points and Murray State with 12 points, although the Racers have played one more match.

Samford and Jacksonville State are tied for fourth place with nine points.

"These two games are very big, but all the games for the rest of the season are huge," said Southeast coach Heather Nelson, whose squad has four conference games left.

Southeast was in a first-place tie with Eastern Illinois before suffering a 2-0 loss at last-place Morehead State last Friday.

The Redhawks, who bounced back to beat Eastern Kentucky on Sunday, need to keep winning and hope Eastern Illinois slips up somewhere along the line. The squads tied 0-0 earlier this year.

"We need Eastern to lose, and I think the conference is even enough for that to be a possibility," Nelson said.

The upset loss to Morehead State cost the Redhawks a chance to host the OVC Tournament. That honor normally goes to the regular-season champion, but this year's tournament title contest is being televised by ESPNU, and the network needed to know early where that broadcast will originate from.

So the OVC deemed that the first-place team after five conference games would earn the host spot, which turned out to be Eastern Illinois. Southeast could have gotten into a coin flip with the Panthers if it had beaten Morehead State.

Volleyball also at home

Southeast's volleyball team is set for a pair of home matches against teams toward the bottom of the OVC standings.

The Redhawks (6-12, 3-3) face Murray State (3-10, 1-5) today at 7 p.m. and Tennessee-Martin (2-22, 0-6) at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Houck Field House.

Southeast is fifth among 11 league squads. Murray State is tied for ninth while Tennessee-Martin is last.

Softball team recognized

The Southeast softball team has been recognized for its academic performance during the 2004-2005 school year.

Southeast had the 19th-best grade point average in the nation (3.28), as announced by The National Fastpitch Coaches Association. That was best in the OVC. The Redhawks have made the top 20 list every year since 1999.

"I'm very proud of our players' accomplishment and the priority that they have placed in their academics," Southeast coach Lana Richmond said.