CONFERENCE GIVES DETAILS ON TOURNEY

Pairings and times have been set for this week's Ohio Valley Conference postseason baseball tournament in Paducah, Ky.

The six-team, double-elimination event will be will be played Wednesday through Saturday at renovated Brooks Stadium as it shifts to a neutral site for the first time.

Regular-season champion Eastern Illinois and runner-up Southeast Missouri State University are the top two seeds. Tennessee Tech is seeded third, followed by Murray State, Austin Peay and Eastern Kentucky.

Southeast will face Austin Peay at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, one of three first-round games played that day.

The tourney champion receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

"It's an exciting time of the season," said Southeast coach Mark Hogan, whose squad's only OVC tourney championship and NCAA Division I appearance came in 1998. "What teams did in the regular season is important, but this is the most important part of the season. The winner of this tournament gets the big prize."

Hogan said Eastern Illinois, which has won three OVC regular-season titles in the past four years, deserves the nod as pre-tourney favorite based on the sensational conference record the Panthers put together.

But Hogan believes every team in the field is dangerous.

"Eastern Illinois gets my vote as the favorite," he said. "They have a great club and they had a tremendous season. They do a lot of things well.

"I think we're as good as anybody in it. And I think any of the six teams can win it. That's kind of an easy way out, but I think it's true. In a tournament, anything can happen and I think all the clubs are solid."

* The OVC's postseason awards and all-conference teams will be announced tonight during a banquet in Paducah.

Southeast pitcher Todd Pennington -- the nation's earned-run average leader for Division I -- is a lock to claim the Pitcher of the Year honor. Pennington is 12-1 with an 0.81 ERA. Monday, he was named OVC Pitcher of the Week for the fifth time this season.

The Indians are also in the running for the league's two other main individual player awards.

Clemente Bonilla is a top candidate for Player of the Year; he led the OVC in hitting the entire season before dropping into second place this week at .388.

Freshman Brad Beatty should be among the contenders for Rookie of the Year as he is one of the league's top first-year performers, his .365 batting average ranking among the best in the conference for all players.

Eastern Illinois' Jim Schmitz figures to have Coach of the Year locked up. His Panthers were picked fourth in the OVC preseason poll but they put together one of the best conference records in league history as they rolled to the title.

OVC Tournament

Seedings, records (overall, conference)

1. Eastern Illinois (34-18, 19-1)

2. Southeast Missouri (34-18, 15-6)

3. Tennessee Tech (28-27, 12-9)

4. Murray St. (28-24-1, 10-11)

5. Austin Peay (28-28, 9-12)

6. Eastern Kentucky (23-29, 8-12).

Today

First round

(Game 1) E. Illinois vs. E. Kentucky, noon

(Game 2) Southeast vs. Austin Peay, 3:30 p.m.

(Game 3) Tennessee Tech vs. Murray St., 7 p.m.

Thursday

(Game 4) Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, noon

(Game 5) Game 1 winner vs. Game 3 loser, 3:30 p.m.

(Game 6) Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 7 p.m.

Friday

(Game 7) TBD, noon

(Game 8) TBD, 3:30 p.m.

(Game 9) TBD, 7 p.m.

Saturday

(Game 10) Championship, 1 p.m.

(Game 11) Championship (if necessary), 4 p.m.