INDIANS EXPLODE ON MEMPHIS

Mark Hogan's 200th victory as Southeast Missouri State University's baseball coach was not nearly as easy as the final score indicates.

The Indians used an enormous eighth inning -- scoring eight runs on 10 hits -- to break open a tight game and beat non-conference foe Memphis 14-4 in front of 711 fans at Capaha Field Tuesday night.

"It was a nail-biter until very late in the game," said Hogan. "The final score doesn't do the game justice."

Hogan is now 200-156-1 in his seventh season with the Indians and he has 354 collegiate wins in all, not to mention more than 200 additional victories on the junior-college level.

"That's for another day and time as far as I'm concerned," said Hogan of his 200th triumph at Southeast. "This program isn't about Mark Hogan, it's about all the players we've had here.

"It is gratifying to know we've been around the 30 win total (on average) as a Division I program with the kind of schedule we play."

The Indians improved to 23-11 while dropping the Tigers to 18-13, which is still quite an improvement over last year's 15-37 mark.

Memphis, which competes in Conference USA, has made great strides in its first season under coach Dave Anderson, a 10-year major-league player who was a shortstop with the Dodgers when they won the 1988 World Series.

"This is a very satisfying win because Memphis has a very nice team," Hogan said. "Dave Anderson has done a great job in a short period of time."

The Indians received a stellar pitching performance from left-hander Jeffrey Hilz, who relieved starter Greg Lunski after the first Memphis batter reached in the fifth inning.

Hilz went on to work the final five innings, allowing two hits and no runs while striking out seven and walking one. He improved his record to 4-1.

"I felt pretty good," said Hilz. "It was a nice night and it was easy to keep loose and comfortable."

Said Hogan, "I thought Lunski did a nice job, but Hilz was the story of the game. He was tremendous."

Offensively, the Indians banged out 17 hits as they improved their team batting average to .299 after an extremely slow offensive start to the season.

Clemente Bonilla, who recently became Southeast's all-time leader in walks, had three hits as he boosted his Ohio Valley Conference-leading average to .433. Bonilla also homered and drove in three runs.

"Clemente just continues to have an outstanding season," said Hogan.

Brad Beatty, Zach Borowiak, Jeff Bourbon, Tristen McDonald, Shane Allen and Brian Hopkins all had two hits, the latter three getting both of theirs in the huge eighth inning.

Barrett Smith and Keno Anderson each had two of the Tigers' nine hits.

Bonilla got the Indians going early with a two-run homer in the first inning, his third of the season. The Indians made it 4-0 in the second.

Smith's three-run homer, his ninth of the year, keyed a four-run Memphis third as the Tigers pulled into a 4-4 tie.

Southeast surged ahead 6-4 with a two-run fifth, getting an RBI single from Vern Hatton and a run-scoring ground out from McDonald. That's the way things stood until Southeast broke things wide open in the eighth.

The teams will conclude their two-game series today with a 2 p.m. contest at Capaha.

* Southeast junior Todd Pennington, by far the OVC's top pitcher so far this season, is also proving to be one of the nation's best.

In the most recent NCAA Division I statistics, Pennington is third in earned-run average at 1.21. He has a 6-1 record.

As a team, Southeast's 3.23 ERA before Tuesday was 17th nationally.

"Our staff has just done a tremendous job so far," said Southeast pitching coach Jeremy Tyson.