'Hawks head to Louisiana for series at McNeese St.

~ Southeast will look for its first win today in the opener of its three-game series.

Other than being hit with a loss, Southeast Missouri State baseball coach Mark Hogan found little fault with his team's effort and performance during Wednesday's season opener at Arkansas State.

The inexperienced Redhawks played errorless ball and received strong starting pitching, but the host Indians rallied with three eighth-inning runs to win 4-3.

"You're always disappointed when you have a 3-1 lead and don't win," Hogan said. "But I'm sure not disappointed in how we played.

"We didn't have any errors, and even though we had only four hits, we got some big hits. I was encouraged by how we played."

Hogan will look for more solid play from the Redhawks -- and hopefully better results -- this weekend when they play a three-game series at McNeese State.

The series, in Lake Charles, La., begins with tonight's 7 p.m. contest. There will also be single games at noon Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

"We're looking forward to getting some more games in," Hogan said. "The weather in the Midwest isn't going to be very good this weekend, so we're fortunate we're playing there."

Starter Anthony Maupin was strong against Arkansas State. The senior right-hander, who missed most of last season with a shoulder injury after leading the team in wins in 2004, allowed one run and seven hits in six innings, with two strikeouts and no walks. He left with a 3-1 lead after throwing 84 pitches.

"I thought Anthony really pitched well," Hogan said. "He didn't want to come out, but we pretty well made up our mind before the game that we weren't going to let him go very much over 80 pitches."

The Indians rallied in the eighth on four hits against senior right-hander Jamie McAlister, who had been scheduled to start tonight. McAlister worked a scoreless seventh before faltering.

"Jamie threw a great seventh inning, but they got some solid hits off him in the eighth," Hogan said.

A lineup that featured seven first-year Redhawks produced just four singles.

"We know we're going to have to hit the ball better, but most of those guys had not played in a Division I game before," Hogan said. "We know we have to be patient, but I think we're eventually going to have a good offense."

McNeese State, which went 23-31 last year, is off to a 2-3 start. The Cowboys began the season by taking two out of three at Louisiana Tech, then suffered losses to a pair of nationally ranked opponents, falling 6-2 at Rice and 5-3 at Tulane.

"I'm sure they'll be very competitive," Hogan said. "They're ahead of us, having played five games already."

The Cowboys return two players who were named to last year's Collegiate Baseball Freshmen All-America Team in shortstop Bryan Cartie and outfielder Taylor Faul, who hit .348 and .339, respectively.

Senior Tyler Dugas is the Cowboys' top hitter so far at .400 (8 for 20).

Hogan said senior left-hander Derek Herbig will probably start tonight, with McAlister likely earning Saturday's nod. They are the Redhawks' top returning pitchers from last year.

Two freshmen right-handers, Daniel Schuh and Andrew Graham, are the leading candidates to start Sunday's game, according to Hogan, although he expects plenty of pitchers to see action this weekend.

"With 27 innings, I'm sure they'll get a lot of work," he said.

Softball opener canceled

The Southeast softball team will have to wait another week to open its season after this weekend's Tennessee-Martin Classic was canceled due to the probability of inclement weather. The Redhawks were scheduled to play five games in the two-day tournament.

Southeast will now begin the season Feb. 24 with two games at the Mississippi State Invitational. They will play six games in the three-day tournament.