EX-INDIAN JOHNSON EARNS MVP

Former Southeast Missouri State University baseball standout Jeremy Johnson has won the 2000 Ralph Nelles award that goes to the Pioneer League Most Valuable Player.

Johnson, in his rookie season of professional baseball, is an outfielder for the Medicine Hat Blue Jays. He was the 2000 Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year for baseball and also the 2000 OVC Male Athlete of the Year after a record-setting career at Southeast.

A native of Tamms, Ill., Johnson is second in the Pioneer League in batting average at .378, fourth in RBIs (58) and first in total hits (90). He also leads the league with a .495 on-base percentage and with 64 runs scored. He ranks second with a .609 slugging percentage and 34 extra-base hits.

In one of the closest votings in the nine-year history of the award, Johnson received 42 votes, four more than Ricardo Rodriguez, a pitcher with the Great Falls Dodgers.

Rodriguez has league highs of nine wins, 119 strikeouts and a 2.01 earned-run average.