Bieser hired as assistant baseball coach

~ The former major league player returns to Southeast Missouri State

Southeast Missouri State baseball coach Mark Hogan tapped a familiar face to fill out his coaching staff.

Hogan announced the hiring of former major leaguer Steve Bieser as the Redhawks pitching coach.

Bieser, who graduated from Southeast in 1989, spent the last seven seasons at St. John Vianney High School in St. Louis. He led Vianney to the Class 4 state title in 2004 and 2006.

"Steve is a great hire for our program, and being able to bring one of our alumni back to work with our organization is very exciting," Hogan said in a statement. "His successes at every level of baseball speak for themselves."

Bieser, a Ste. Genevieve, Mo., native, was drafted by the Phillies in the 32nd round of the 1989 draft. He made his major league debut with the Mets on April 1, 1997, and appeared in 47 games that year. He finished with 80 major league at-bats.

"I'm really excited and can't wait to get to work," Bieser said in a statement. "It's great to get back to the place where my baseball career started. This is something I've been considering for a long time and I look forward to this opportunity."

Bieser's son, Cole, is an outfielder for the Redhawks.

Bieser replaces Rick McCarty, who served as the pitching coaching for two seasons.

Volleyball picked seventh in poll

The Southeast volleyball team has been picked to finish seventh in the Ohio Valley Conference this season.

Morehead State is the preseason favorite in voting by the league's coaches and sports information directors that was announced Wednesday.

The Eagles, third in last year's regular season and second in the conference tournament, received 11 of 20 first-place votes and 153 points.

Jacksonville State, which captured both the regular-season and tournament titles in 2009, nabbed the remaining nine first-place votes and 139 points to be selected second.

Murray State was picked third with 133 points, followed by Eastern Kentucky (105), Tennessee Tech (99), Austin Peay (93), Southeast (65), Eastern Illinois (41), Tennessee State (39) and Tennessee-Martin (33).

Southeast had no players voted to the 14-member all-OVC preseason team.

The Redhawks went 13-17 overall and a seventh-place 8-10 in the OVC last year as they failed to make the six-team conference tournament for the first time since joining the league in 1991.

Southeast saw its league-record string of 18 straight tournament appearances end in 2009.

The Redhawks open the season Aug. 27 at the Bradley tournament in Peoria, Ill.

Gymnasts

Southeast gymnastics coach Kristi Ewasko announced the addition of Will Stokley to her staff.

Stokley spent last season at Ball State as a graduate assistant. A 2009 graduate of Auburn, he spent five years as a student member of the Tigers coaching staff.

As a club team competitor, Stokley was a 10-time Alabama state champion and Class 3 Region VIII AA champion. He also was a three-time Junior Olympic national qualifier.

"Will is a great addition to my staff," Ewasko said in a statement. "His coaching experience from two vastly different programs and his knowledge from being a talented gymnast himself will help our program immediately."

-- From staff reports