Indian golfers stand last in OVC tourney

PADUCAH, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State University entered the Ohio Valley Conference men's golf tournament with high hopes of challenging for its first-ever OVC title.

But after a disastrous opening round Monday, the Indians will need quite a comeback to make that happen.

The Indians are in last place after the first 18 holes of the 54-hole event at the Country Club of Paducah. Their 316 total has them a whopping 25 strokes behind leader Austin Peay, the two-time defending champion, which shot 291 to pace the nine-team field.

Eastern Kentucky is second at 296, followed by Tennessee-Martin (304), Murray State (306), Eastern Illinois (307), Tennessee State (309), Morehead State (309), Tennessee Tech (315) and Southeast.

Southeast's Woody Hill, Kent Phillips and Matt Hillis all shot rounds of 5-over-par 77 as they are tied for 19th place. Rounding out the Indians' lineup were Jimmy Blose (85) and Brian Sheehan (87), who are 43rd and 44th, respectively.

Austin Peay's Matt Gallant is the first-round leader with a 3-under 69. Eastern Kentucky's Brandon Brown and Patrick Williams are tied for second at 1-under 71.

The tournament continues today and concludes Wednesday.

Alvarez sets record

Pitcher Tim Alvarez is having a sensational season for Southeast's baseball team, leading the OVC in wins, earned-run average, shutouts and complete games.

But Alvarez put his name in the OVC and NCAA record book Saturday with something of a dubious distinction. By hitting six batters during a game at Austin Peay, he set an OVC record and tied the NCAA mark.

Still, all those hit batsmen did not hurt Alvarez as he won the contest 9-3, raising his record to 10-2. The senior left-hander has a 2.27 ERA, two shutouts and five complete games.

"I thought Tim threw probably his best game of the year, and that's arguable because he's got 10 wins, but he really changed up his speeds well," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "He was coming inside on those guys and hitting six is really unusual, but it didn't affect his performance."

By winning two of three games at Austin Peay over the weekend, Southeast (22-14, 6-5) has moved into a three-way tie for third place in the OVC, just one game behind league-leader Tennessee Tech. The Indians have a non-conference game Wednesday at nationally ranked Missouri (28-15).-- From staff reports