Bonilla, Smith come through in key series

The Southeast baseball team has seven seniors and most of them played key roles in the Indians' first Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship.

But Clemente Bonilla and Brandon Smith probably took extra pride in Southeast's title-clinching doubleheader sweep of Eastern Illinois Saturday because they are the only seniors who have been in the program four years.

And it was perhaps fitting that Bonilla and Smith both were major players as the Indians defeated the Panthers 9-2 and 7-1 to finally break through after they were second in the OVC's regular season the past four years.

"You dream about days like this for your upperclassmen and it's especially neat to see Brandon and Clemente perform the way they did today," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "Brandon was awesome and Clemente has done it for four years."

Smith, a right-hander who is the Indians' No. 2 starter, pitched a complete game in the 7-1 finale as he improved his record to 9-2 and tied teammate Brad Purcell for the OVC lead in victories.

Smith, a St. Louis native, met with mostly average results during his first three seasons with the Indians but he has turned into one of the OVC's premier hurlers this year.

"Finally winning the championship has been a long time coming," Smith said. "It's an awesome feeling and I couldn't be happier for everyone."

Bonilla has been one of the Indians' top players since the Californian arrived in Cape Girardeau. He was the OVC Player of the Year last season and earned All-American honors, and is the OVC's career walks leader with 195, including 42 this year.

Bonilla got off to a slow start at the plate this year, but has been hot in recent weeks and his 4-for-6 performance Saturday boosted his season batting average to .311.

"I've been anticipating this since my freshman year, but every year we came up just short," Bonilla said. "It's just an awesome feeling, after being here four years. And of all the people, for Brandon to be throwing the game that clinched it for us, was great."

While Bonilla and Smith are elated by the regular-season championship, the Indians still must win the OVC Tournament May 23-25 in Paducah, Ky., to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time as a Division I program.

"We are the dominant team in the OVC this year and we want to prove it again in Paducah," Bonilla said.

mmishow@semissourian.com

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