HOGAN UPBEAT DESPITE INDIANS' EARLY DISMISSAL

Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team made its first-ever NCAA Division I Tournament appearance last week.

Indians' coach Mark Hogan hopes it's the start of a trend for his program.

"It's a great experience for our players and it's a great thing for our program," said Hogan. "What we're striving for is to get our program to the point where we're going to the regionals on a regular basis. That's what every program strives for."

While Hogan came away disappointed that the Indians went 0-2 in the six-team Midwest Regional in Wichita, Kan., he certainly wasn't disappointed in the kind of season they had.

Southeast, coming off a 24-33 campaign, entered Hogan's fourth season as the Indians' coach picked to finish only sixth in the nine-team Ohio Valley Conference.

But the Indians wound up second in the nine-team league, won the OVC Tournament and then won a play-in series against Southern to make the Division I tourney for the first time in school history.

Not even a two-and-out showing in the Midwest Regional -- the Indians lost 7-4 to Wichita State and 14-5 to Georgia Tech -- could dampen Hogan's enthusiasm for what his team accomplished this season.

Especially with just one senior -- pitcher Jason Swearingen -- on the entire squad.

"We just had a tremendous season," said Hogan, whose squad finished with an overall record of 32-24 to tie the school mark for victories in a season. "With only one senior, we wanted to have a good year and mature as a team and really build toward next year.

"But the guys just got better and better as the season went on and they just came together. As a result, we had a fantastic season."

One area the Indians were a bit short on this season was pitching depth, but Southeast has already signed several talented pitching recruits for next season.

"We'll have a lot to look forward to next year," he said. "We've got some very talented pitchers coming in to join the pitchers we'll have coming back and we'll have all our position players coming back."

One of the highlights of the season was junior pitcher Ryan Spille being named a third-team All-American, the first baseball player in Southeast history to earn Division I All-American honors.

Even though Spille had a rough outing against Wichita State, the OVC Pitcher of the Year wound up 11-2. He tied Southeast's single-season record for wins and shattered the school's single-season record for strikeouts with 130.

Swearingen finished his Southeast career with 28 wins, tying the school record, and he owns the school mark for most innings pitched in a career (367.1) and season (110).

"Jason had a great career at Southeast and he will be missed," Hogan said.

Another major school record set by an Indian this season was junior left fielder Charlie Marino's 21 home runs, which broke the former mark of 20 set in 1985.

As a team, the Indians belted a school-record 90 homers, including five during their two Midwest Regional games.

"It was just a good year all around," said Hogan. "Not only did we have some very talented ballplayers on this team, but it was a really class group of guys. They were a pleasure to be around."

Hogan figures that the exposure of earning a regional berth should allow the Indians to have a chance at signing some extremely talented recruits in the future.

"I think us getting to a regional for the first time ever should open a lot of recruiting doors for us nationally," he said. "I think this season is something we'll really have a chance to build on."