Improved pitchers on right track, coaches say

Jeremy Tyson has helped develop impressive staffs during his previous three seasons with the Southeast Missouri State University baseball team.

And despite a slow start this year, Tyson, Southeast's pitching coach, expects the this season's mound corps to rank right up there with some of the best.

"I thought from the very beginning this staff had the makings to be the best in school history," Tyson said. "I still do."

Over the last several games, the Indians' hurlers have started to back up Tyson's faith. They'll look for more of the same today when Missouri Valley College, an NAIA team from Marshall, Mo., visits Capaha Field for a 4 p.m. first pitch.

Southeast, which has won five straight games to even its record at 8-8, also will host Missouri Valley in a 1 p.m. contest Saturday.

"I've seen a lot of good things from our pitchers in the last few weeks," Tyson said, "and hopefully we can keep going in that direction."

Tyson and Southeast head coach Mark Hogan knew it might take time for their pitching staff to develop after graduation hit hard following a 37-20 season that featured Ohio Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles and the program's first NCAA Division I regional victory.

OVC Pitcher of the Year Brad Purcell and Brandon Smith completed their eligibility after each won 12 games to tie the school single-season record. Reliever Mark Frazier, who won three games and saved five, was another key loss.

The Indians returned just two experienced hurlers from a year ago. Senior left-hander Tim Alvarez went 5-1 with three saves and led the OVC with a 2.95 earned-run average, while senior right-hander Donnie Fuller was 3-2 after he came on strong down the stretch.

Besides Alvarez and Fuller, Southeast returned just one other pitcher from last year in senior right-hander James Beever, who worked just 17 innings out of the bullpen.

"We knew that finding some pitchers to replace the ones we lost would be a big key," Hogan said. "It's hard to replace 24 wins at the top."

Complicating matters for the Indians was the serious shoulder injury suffered by Fuller early this season that will likely sideline him for the year.

So it may have come as no surprise that Southeast's pitching staff -- except for Alvarez, who has been brilliant -- struggled during the early part of the season.

"As much anticipation as we had for these guys at the end of the fall to be a dominant staff, things didn't go that well right away," Tyson said. "But there is a lot of youth and inexperience. The jump to Division I is a big jump."

Other than Beever and Alvarez -- who is 6-0 with a 1.62 ERA -- Southeast's staff is made up primarily of transfers, the majority from the junior-college ranks. While most had impressive careers at the lower level, adjustments have to be made.

"The hitters are definitely better here," said Jon Nourie, who got his first Southeast win during Wednesday's doubleheader sweep of Lincoln. "We've definitely pitched a lot better lately."

Nourie, fellow junior-college products Ryan Forsyth, Stan Skakalski, Korey Klein and Brad Smith, and hard-throwing Southern Illinois transfer Bill Clayton are among the hurlers being counted on to team with holdovers Alvarez and Beever to form another formidable Southeast staff.

"We've got some guys with excellent arms, and it's just a matter of them putting things together," Hogan said. "They've shown a lot of progress in the last couple of weeks, and that's very encouraging."

mmishow@semissourian.com

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