Falling short of lofty standards

Southeast Missouri State baseball coach Mark Hogan acknowledges that the Redhawks have over the past two years not lived up to the lofty standards he had previously established for the program.

This season, which concluded last week with an 0-2 showing at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in Paducah, Ky., was particularly disappointing, as the Redhawks went 24-32 for only their second losing record in 11 years under Hogan.

Even last year, despite advancing to the OVC tournament championship game, the Redhawks were just 29-28 for a two-year mark of 53-60. They were not really a factor in the OVC race in either season, needing late surges to tie for fourth twice.

Contrast that with the four seasons from 2000 through 2003, when the Redhawks were consistent OVC title contenders, never won less than 31 games and never finished fewer than 11 games above .500. They had a 139-77 record in that span.

"No doubt, this year was disappointing," Hogan said. "The way we finished last year, and what we had coming back, there were a lot of expectations, and we fell short.

"The last two years, it's been under what we're used to. But I have confidence we'll improve it."

Partly because of a tough early schedule -- which has been the norm under Hogan -- the Redhawks started slow and never really put any kind of consistently strong play together, except for winning eight of their final nine OVC games. But that momentum did not pay off in the league tournament.

Southeast, after losing its season opener at top-ranked Tulane -- the Redhawks were swept in the three-game series -- never could get back to the .500 mark the rest of the year.

The Redhawks were particularly frustrated by close losses. They were 4-9 in one-run decisions, and suffered 18 defeats by three runs or less.

"We lost so many close games, and I think that can eventually wear on you," Hogan said.

Although Hogan won't make excuses, the Redhawks were hurt badly by several key injuries, most notably to projected top-line starting pitcher Anthony Maupin and All-American closer Brad Smith, whose healthy presence might have reversed some of those narrow defeats.

Maupin and Smith both missed virtually all of their anticipated senior seasons, but they should be able to play final campaigns next year.

"We did have some key injuries that really hurt, but we can't use that as an excuse," Hogan said.

The offense struggled

Although Southeast's pitching staff was depleted for most of the year, it was actually the Redhawks' offense -- expected to be a strong point with so many key seniors who had strong junior seasons returning -- that caused many of the squad's struggles.

Last year, Southeast batted .301 and averaged 6.4 runs per game. Using many of the same players, the Redhawks dipped to .281 and 5.2 runs per game -- and they needed a late hot stretch to simply get up to those numbers, after they averaged barely four runs per game for most of the campaign.

This year's squad averaged the fewest runs per game since Hogan took over the program, and the .281 batting average tied for the second-lowest mark under Hogan.

"We just never could get our offense going consistently most of the year," Hogan said. "There's no question, offense was a major problem for us."

Southeast's only hitters above .300 this year were four seniors -- Eric Horstman (.358), Ernie Bracamonte (.318), Frankie Montiel (.310) and Freddy Lopez (.302) -- but all batted at least 10 points higher as juniors, with Montiel dropping 42 points and Bracamonte 36 points. Many of the foursome's power numbers were also down from the previous season.

Horstman, who made first-team all-OVC -- Southeast's lone representative on the all-conference first or second squads -- was by far the Redhawks' top all-around offensive performer. He finished the season with a 26-game hitting streak, and also ended the year having reached base safely in 48 consecutive games, believed to be the longest current streak in the nation.

A .368 hitter last year, Horstman wound up his two-year Southeast career ranked in the top 10 in career batting average at the university.

Among underclassmen, sophomore Brent Lawson (.294) came on strong after a slow start and wound up leading the Redhawks in doubles (16) while tying with Lopez and junior Jordan Payne for the home-run lead (5); and freshman James Clayton (.278) had a solid rookie year.

Payne (.257), a junior college transfer, came on late offensively, and also was impressive at shortstop after taking over for Bracamonte when he suffered a hamstring injury.

"We lose many of our top offensive players," Hogan said. "The group coming back still has some work to do, but there is some talent there. The emergence of Payne at shortstop, Lawson came on strong, Clayton played really well for a freshman -- those were bright spots that we can build on."

Pitching was better, but. ...

In the pitching department, Southeast's 5.33 earned-run average was not terrible by college standards -- it was an improvement from last year's 5.89 mark -- but it also was higher than what most of Hogan's teams have had.

Most of Southeast's key hurlers will return, along with the injured Maupin and Smith.

By far the bright spot of the pitching staff was freshman Joey Evans, a strapping right-hander from Texas who emerged as Southeast's top starter over the second half of the season. Evans went 8-4 with a 3.66 ERA.

Junior right-hander Jamie McAlister (4-7, 4.20) pitched better than his record suggests, while junior left-hander Derek Herbig (5-3, 4.75) had his share of strong performances to round out the starting conference rotation.

"We've got a lot of pitchers coming back, and we'll get the injured guys back," Hogan said. "Evans, for a freshman, what a great season he had."

Always next year

Southeast loses 10 seniors -- six of them regulars -- but Hogan said he likes the talent returning and he believes the Redhawks have landed a strong recruiting class that should provide immediate help.

Still, although several of the seniors underachieved this season, Hogan acknowledged that he and his assistants face a major retooling job if the Redhawks are going to rediscover the kind of consistent success the program had going just a few years ago.

"There's going to be a new face on this club. It's not going to be the same as the last two years," said Hogan, who has an 11-year Southeast record of 332-265, including NCAA tournament appearances in 1998 and 2002. "There will be a lot of new guys in the lineup, but that happens more often than not on the college level."