Change in position leaves McDonald in a familiar role

Tristen McDonald was ready to get back behind the plate.

A senior who started in right field last year for Southeast Missouri State University, McDonald will be at catcher today when the Indians open their season at Oklahoma.

"I'm stoked," said a smiling McDonald prior to the Indians' practice Wednesday afternoon. "It's been a long time coming."

McDonald has been a catcher virtually his entire baseball life, but when he transferred to Southeast last year from Iowa Central Community College, Jeff Bourbon was solidly entrenched behind the plate.

So McDonald accepted his move to the outfield, where he wound up doing a decent job while hitting .286 with six home runs and 36 RBIs, the latter figure ranking second on the team behind Bourbon.

"I'd been a catcher all my life and it was tough moving to the outfield, picking up the flight of the ball," McDonald said. "At the end of the year, I started getting used to it."

But since Bourbon graduated, it's McDonald's time to make the move. Southeast coach Mark Hogan said he's confident in McDonald's abilities.

"We'll miss Bourbon, but we've answered one of our big questions with Tristen back there," Hogan said. "He's got a quick release, a strong arm, he's tough, he handles pitchers well and he swings the bat."

Anticipating a move to catcher this season, McDonald got plenty of work behind the plate over the summer playing for the Cape Girardeau Capahas.

"It helped me out a lot, just getting used to it again," he said.

A native of Australia, McDonald is enthusiastic about catching Brad Purcell, also from Australia and the top returning starting pitcher. McDonald and Purcell played together at Iowa Central Community College before coming to Southeast.

"We're great friends and we work together well on the field," McDonald said.Season outlook

McDonald is one of six position starters returning from last year's team that went 34-20 and finished second in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Headlining the returnees is senior second baseman Clemente Bonilla, the 2001 OVC Player of the Year who earned All-American honors. Junior shortstop Zach Borowiak joined Bonilla in earning first-team all-OVC honors. Those two and junior third baseman Denver Stuckey all batted better than .300 last year.

Senior center fielder Vern Hatton fell two percentage points shy of the .300 mark while leading the Indians in home runs with seven. And senior left fielder Brian Hopkins came on after a slow start.

New starters for the Indians, at least for this weekend's three-game series, will be junior-college transfers Tim Alvarez at first base and Ryan Govek in right field, along with Harris-Stowe transfer Josh West at DH.

The pitching staff is a question mark after losing virtually all of the top hurlers except for Purcell, including OVC Pitcher of the Year and All-American Todd Pennington.

For the opening weekend, Hogan will go with Purcell, UCLA transfer Ryan Cheo and junior college transfer Donnie Fuller.

Hogan said he is high on plenty of other pitchers and he's also looking at using Stuckey and Govek in closer's roles.

Sooners struggling

Oklahoma, a traditional national power, struggled last season with a 25-33-1 record, including a seventh-place 12-16-1 in the Big 12 Conference.

The Sooners are off to a 2-1 start after a three-game series with Arkansas-Little Rock last weekend.

mmishow@semissourian.com

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