INDIANS DO REIGN DANCE; SOUTHEAST WINS OVC TOURNAMENT

Rain fell much of Saturday, but it certainly didn't rain on Southeast Missouri State University's parade.

The baseball Indians won their first-ever Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship, holding off Eastern Illinois 15-11 in front of 625 enthusiastic fans at Capaha Field.

Southeast survived a big-time EIU comeback from a 9-0 deficit, a rain delay of one hour 10 minutes and rain that fell during parts of the contest to finish the double-elimination tourney with a 3-0 record.

The second-seeded Indians, now 30-22 on the season, will host Southwestern Athletic Conference champion Southern University Friday and Saturday in a best-of-three play-in series to determine an NCAA Tournament berth.

Top-seeded EIU, the OVC regular-season champion, ends its season with a 37-16 record. The Panthers went 3-1 in the tourney.

"It's an unbelievable feeling," said Southeast coach Mark Hogan. "I just can't say enough about how proud I am of this ballclub. They're just a tremendous team and a great group of guys."

Hogan, a Cape Girardeau native, spent 13 years coaching in Alabama before returning home four years ago to take over a struggling Southeast program that was in its Division I infancy.

"To have the opportunity to win a championship at Capaha Field, it's ecstatic for me personally," he said. "This was one of my goals for the program when I took over. It's great."

The Indians had the OVC's top pitching staff during the season, but this tournament was won with offense.

Southeast had 47 hits and batted .385 in the tourney, winning its two other games by scores of 10-9 and 12-8.

"What a wild tournament, but that's the way these things usually are," Hogan said.

No game was wilder than Saturday's title contest, which featured 34 hits -- 19 by Southeast -- and six home runs, three by each team.

"It was a spectacular ballgame, like a heavyweight title fight, with the teams banging on each other the entire game," said Hogan with a laugh.

Southeast center fielder Jeremy Johnson, the tournament MVP, went 4-for-6 with five runs batted in. He hit his 12th homer of the season.

"Coach said going in (to the tournament) that offense would be the key," said Johnson. "This has been our goal all season, to win the championship. We knew we had the team to do it."

Also for Southeast, Steve Lowe went 4-for-4; Darin Kinsolving had three hits; Brad Hoehner had two hits and three RBIs; Charlie Marino had two hits, including his school-record-tying 20th homer of the season; Kyle Yount had two hits; and Phil Warren got his fourth homer of the campaign.

Marino, Lowe, Hoehner and Warren all joined Johnson on the all-tournament team.

"Records are great, but winning the game is a lot more special," said Marino when asked about tying Southeast's single-season homer record. "This is what I was dreaming of."

Said Hoehner, "It feels good. This was our goal coming into the season. It was a wild tournament and we really put our offense together."

For EIU, Clint Benhoff hit his 18th homer, Mark Tomse got his 17th and Sean Lyons drilled his 13th.

Benhoff and Lyons were joined by teammates Matt Marzec and Josh Zink on the all-tourney squad.

Dan Huesgen (6-3) was the winning pitcher. He did not allow a hit in the first four innings before wearing down. Huesgen allowed six hits and seven runs (six earned) in 5 1/3 innings.

Marc Scheffer gave up six hits and three runs in 1 2/3 innings.

To close things out after EIU had made quite a charge, Hogan turned to Jason Swearingen, the team's lone senior who had started Thursday's tourney opener.

Swearingen allowed three hits and one run while striking out three in two innings.

"Jason is the only guy who was with us the other two times we made it to the (tournament) championship game and we lost both times," Hogan said. "For him to get the ball and close out the win was special."

Southeast, the official visiting team on the scoreboard, came out on fire, going up 2-0 in the second inning, then putting together a six-run fourth that featured a three-run homer by Johnson and a solo shot by Marino.

The Indians went up 9-0 in the fifth and it looked like they might cruise to the title.

But Hogan knew better.

"Eastern Illinois just has a tremendous offensive ballclub," he said. "You knew no lead would be safe. We had to keep scoring."

EIU got five in the fifth to make it 9-5. And the Panthers kept coming offensively, but Southeast was able to keep answering over the next few innings.

Leading 10-7, the Indians scored four runs in the seventh, the big blow being a two-run homer by Warren.

Another Southeast run in the eighth made it 15-8. EIU got three in the eighth but the Panthers could get no closer.

Almost as soon as Swearingen fanned Lyons looking in the bottom of the ninth to end the contest, Southeast's dugout erupted as the Indians piled on top of each other on the field.

"It's a special day for us," said Swearingen. "It's what we've been working for and it's a great feeling."

OVC Baseball Tournament

(at Capaha Field)

Thursday's Games

Eastern Kentucky 7, Murray State 5

Morehead State 8, Tennessee Tech 3, 10 innings

Eastern Kentucky 15, Eastern Illinois 3

Southeast Missouri 10, Morehead State 9

Friday's Games

Eastern Illinois 10, Morehead State 8, 11 innings

Southeast Missouri 12, Eastern Kentucky 8

Eastern Illinois 26, Eastern Kentucky 10

Saturday's Game

(Championship)

Southeast Missouri 15, Eastern Illinois 11