Indians try to shake tough loss to Mizzou

When it comes to luck in recent baseball meetings with the University of Missouri, Southeast Missouri State University has experienced nothing but the bad end of the stick.

The Indians' most recent gut-wrenching loss to the Tigers came Wednesday night in Columbia as MU squeezed out a wild 12-11 victory in 13 innings.

Last year, the Tigers posted 9-8 and 12-11 victories over the Indians, the latter by way of a big late rally. And earlier this season, Southeast held a 3-0 lead only to see MU come back to win 6-3. The Tigers have won the last four meetings and lead the overall series 19-6.

"We just can't seem to catch a break against them, and it seems like something crazy always happens," said Southeast coach Mark Hogan, whose squad will close out the regular season this weekend with a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series at Tennessee-Martin.

Added Hogan, "But it was a great game and we've really got a great rivalry going with them. Hopefully this is the kind of game we can build on even though we lost, because we really played well."

In a contest that took four hours and 39 minutes to complete, there was very little separating the teams until MU pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning.

Southeast had 17 hits and MU 19. Both squads committed one error, with the Indians' miscue helping the Tigers tie the contest in the ninth after Southeast had taken its first lead of the game at 10-9 in the eighth. The Indians also led 11-10 in the 12th before the Tigers tied things in the bottom of the frame.

Gary Gilbert had four hits and three RBIs for Southeast. Eric Horstman added three hits and Freddy Lopez got his team-leading eighth home run. The Indians used five pitchers and the Tigers eight.

Now Southeast (24-25, 13-10) will turn its attention to Tennessee-Martin (15-36, 6-18). The Indians, tied for fourth place among 10 OVC squads, have clinched a berth in next week's six-team conference tournament in Paducah, Ky. The Skyhawks are tied for last and have been eliminated from league tourney contention.

There will be a 1 p.m. doubleheader today and 1 p.m. single game Saturday. While Hogan said the Indians want to do well, he also emphasized how important it will be for them to have a fresh pitching staff heading into the league tournament that begins Wednesday.

"It's not a must-win situation for us, so we'll play keeping one eye on the tournament," Hogan said.

Southeast has three players who appeared in the most recent national statistical rankings, led by junior center fielder Frankie Montiel, who is seventh in doubles per game. His 19 doubles are tied for third on the school's single-season list and he is just one double away from second place. The record is 25, set by Kevin Meyer in 2000.

Junior right-hander Brad Smith is tied for 12th with 10 saves. He has already set the school's single-season saves record and tied the career mark despite being in his first season. And Smith is just two away from the single-season OVC record for saves. Smith also leads the league with a 2.19 earned-run average.

Sophomore left-hander Derek Herbig is 19th in strikeouts per nine innings at 11.4. Herbig has fanned 65 in 51 1/3 innings.

Tennessee-Martin's Bryant Jones is 20th nationally with a .414 batting average that ranks third in the OVC.