INDIANS, JAGUARS HUNT FOR NCAA BERTH; WINNER OF PLAY-IN SERIES GOES TO REGIONAL

Southern University baseball coach Roger Cador hopes his team will be able to overcome a long layoff.

Southeast Missouri State University coach Mark Hogan acknowledges that the layoff probably won't be beneficial to the Jaguars, but he expects the Indians to be facing an extremely talented squad.

The stage is set for a best-of-three NCAA play-in series at Capaha Field between the Indians (30-22) and Jaguars (31-14). The series will open tonight at 6 o'clock with one game. The second game will be played Saturday at 1 p.m. If needed, a third and final contest will also be played Saturday.

The winner of the series earns a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Eight regionals will be held across the country next week.

"Making it to the NCAA Tournament would be something so special for our baseball program," said Hogan, the Indians' fourth-year head coach. "But it's something we can't even think about right now because we're going to have our hands full with a very good Southern team."

Cador, in his 14th season as the Jaguars' boss, is also looking forward to a very good series, although he does have some concerns about a scheduling quirk that has seen his team play just twice since April 19, when the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament concluded.

"Our conference plays the tournament too darned early," said Cador. "It's difficult for us, having to wait almost 30 days. But we're not making any excuses."

The SWAC champion Jaguars are extremely potent offensively, with a team batting average of .319 and 10 players who are hitting better than .300.

"During the course of the year I thought we swung the bats well and hopefully we can pick that back up," Cador said.

Marlon August leads the Jaguars offensively with a .386 average. Alva Thompson is right behind with a .384 mark and he leads the squad in home runs with 14 and runs batted in with 55.

Other top hitters for the Jaguars are Bryan Banks (.377), Javier Witherspoon (.338) and Marcellous Manuel (.331).

Manuel and Lincoln Williams both have 10 homers while Manuel has 50 RBIs and Williams has driven in 44 runs.

Southern, located in Baton Rouge, La., has hit 70 home runs, which compares favorably to Southeast's school-record total of 85.

"They have a very good offensive team," said Hogan. "And what really concerns me is they have a lot of speed and they're very aggressive. They steal a lot of bases. Seven of their nine can basically steal."

The Jaguars have stolen 69 bases and been caught 14 times. Banks leads the way with a perfect 21-for-21 in steals while August has stolen eight while being caught twice.

In the pitching department, right-hander Farrel Graham has a 9-0 record with a 4.73 earned-run average, but Cador said left-hander Terrance Hill (6-3, 4.52 ERA) is actually the Jaguars' most talented hurler. Hill has 84 strikeouts in 81 innings.

Overall, Cador said his pitching staff leads something to be desired. Southern's team ERA is 6.57 and opponents are batting .321 against the Jaguars' staff.

"Our pitching staff is not very good right now," said Cador, who did not say for sure who would start tonight's series opener. "We don't have the numbers."

Cador, who has led Southern to a pair of NCAA Tournament berths (in 1987 and 1988) and several play-in series, said he expects Southeast to be extremely formidable.

"To win that league (Ohio Valley Conference), you have to be pretty good," he said.

The Indians' team batting average of .302 is not quite up to the Jaguars' level, but Southeast hit a robust .385 during last weekend's OVC Tournament that they won.

Seven regulars are batting over .300: Kyle Yount (.346), Jeremy Johnson (.339), Jeff Bourbon (.327), Charlie Marino (.326), Steve Lowe, Darin Kinsolving and Phil Warren (.309).

Marino leads in home runs with 20 and RBIs with 47 while Robert Kern has 15 homers.

Southeast's team ERA of 5.05, which led the OVC this year, is considerably better than Southern's.

Hogan said right-hander Jason Swearingen (7-5, 4.07 ERA) will start tonight. Swearingen, Southeast's lone senior, has been the Indians' first-game starter in every series this season.

Left-hander Ryan Spille (10-1, 2.34 ERA) will get the nod Saturday. If a third game is needed, right-hander Dan Huesgen (6-3, 5.45 ERA) will get the call.

All in all, Hogan said he expects an extremely exciting and tightly contested series.

"I think it's going to be a tremendous series," he said. "Southern is a very talented ballclub. But I think our guys will be able to handle the situation, stay focused and be really ready to play."