Indians' weekend series had it all for baseball fans

Southeast Missouri State University and Eastern Illinois put on a baseball show in Cape Girardeau that offered a little bit of everything to the nearly 1,800 fans who watched the three-game series at Capaha Field.

Friday, the Indians and Panthers engaged in a thrilling, well-played doubleheader dominated by pitching and defense, with a measure of timely hitting thrown in.

EIU's 5-1 first-game victory featured a dandy of a mound duel between the top two earned-run average leaders in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Southeast's Tim Alvarez and EIU's Damon White went toe-to-toe for the entire nine innings -- and both starters going the distance is rare in college baseball. Alvarez had one subpar inning and that's all the Panthers needed to prevail.

The Panthers completed the doubleheader sweep with a 5-4, extra-inning victory that left the defending OVC champion Indians in a bind entering Saturday's series finale.

But the Indians' offense finally came to life as Southeast romped in a wild 22-9 slugfest that featured 23 hits and five home runs by the Tribe.

So after an exciting weekend of baseball, the OVC race continues to be a scrambled mess -- and that's the way things figure to stay the remainder of the season. Only one of the league's eight teams has as few as two conference losses and most of the squads appear to have a legitimate chance of winning the title.

Southeast, 4-4 in OVC play, still probably has as good a shot to capture the crown as anybody. But, through three of the seven league series, it's clear the Indians probably aren't going to run away with the race, as a lot of their optimistic fans might have anticipated.

But if it's suspense Southeast baseball followers are looking for, then the rest of the season figures to contain plenty of it.

Former Southeast baseball star Jeremy Johnson paid a visit to the press box during Saturday's game and said he is almost certain that his professional career has come to an end.

Johnson, the 2000 OVC Player of the Year, was drafted in the 26th round by the Toronto Blue Jays. He had a sensational rookie season, winning the Pioneer League's Player of the Year award, but he battled shoulder problems last season and those lingered into spring training this year, which led the Blue Jays to release him a few weeks ago.

Although Johnson could probably hook up with another organization in the future, he told me his shoulder is still not right and he's pretty sure he's going to move on with his life. He said he has been offered a job by Wells Fargo Financial and is likely to accept it.

Jeremy, who attended Egyptian (Ill.) High School, is one of the finest young men I've ever met and here's wishing him the best of luck whatever he decides to do.

And, by the way, he said he hasn't ruled out possibly playing for the Capahas at some point down the road.

Another former Southeast baseball star, Ryan Spille, was also recently released by the Blue Jays organization.

Spille, the 1998 OVC Pitcher of the Year who was drafted in the 19th round, put up fairly decent numbers last year in Double A.

I wrote a story recently about Central High School graduate Craig Scheer, who earns a living playing professional soccer.

Well, Scheer now has a championship to his credit as his Baltimore Blast team won the Major Indoor Soccer League title Friday by beating the Milwaukee Wave 13-12 and capturing the series two games to one.

Scheer did not score in the game but he received plenty of playing time for the Blast this season.

Good luck to Southeast gymnastics coach Patty Stotzheim after her recent resignation in order to return to her home state of Minnesota and attend law school.

Stotzheim handled a difficult situation -- talks of shutting down the program because of possible budget cuts -- this year with plenty of class.

Also best wishes to Central High School athletic director Terry Kitchen as he plans to step down from his post in order to return to coaching football at Central Junior High, where he will be that school's AD.

There's nobody I respect more in area athletic circles than the classy Kitchen, who probably cares as much or more about his alma mater -- Central -- as anybody ever has.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.