Indians win at home in spite of errors

Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team broke a two-game losing streak Tuesday, but coach Mark Hogan let it be known that he was far from satisfied with the Indians' recent play.

Hogan and his assistants spent about 10 minutes lecturing their players immediately following a 7-6 win over visiting Arkansas State in front of nearly 1,300 sun-soaked fans on Greek Day at Capaha Field.

The Indians improved to 18-10 overall with the non-conference victory and avenged an early-season loss to ASU (17-18).

Hogan wasn't scoffing at the Indians' record or their recent school-record 14-game winning streak, which has brought them a bit of national attention; this week they received the most votes among teams not in the top 35 of the National College Baseball Writers Association poll.

But Hogan realizes how much potential the Indians have to perhaps make noise in the NCAA regionals, and he wants to change bad habits like the four errors and four runners thrown out on the bases Tuesday. Southeast has nine errors in its last two games.

"We haven't been playing well. It's kind of hard to say that when you take the big picture. We're 15-2 in our last 17 games," Hogan said. "But I want this team to realize what we did to win 14 in a row. Today we made some baserunning mistakes that cost us and we made four more errors. I know if we play this way most of the time we'll lose.

"But I'm proud of the guys for winning the game. It's the mark of a good team when you don't play well and win."

The Indians know where their coach is coming from.

"We didn't play the best we could, and coach just wanted to let us know we have to start playing better again," said senior left fielder Brian Hopkins, who continued his hot hitting. "We were fortunate to win."

Added senior third baseman Denver Stuckey, also wielding a hot bat, "It's pretty obvious why he was upset. We need to play better. We don't need to get too high when we win if we don't play well."

Hopkins and Stuckey both went 3-for-4 and homered to pace Southeast's 13-hit attack Tuesday.

Hopkins, who drove in three runs, took over the team lead in homers with his seventh of the season and fourth in his last four games. He is batting a team-high .375.

"I think I'm seeing the ball pretty well, and I hope to keep it going," Hopkins said.

Stuckey has finally gotten above the .300 mark after a long climb; he is now at .316.

"Even thought we didn't play well, it's good to get the winning feeling back again," Stuckey said.

Senior second baseman Justin Christian added two hits and boosted his average to .333, which trails only Hopkins and senior shortstop Zach Borowiak (.355). Junior center fielder Seth Moulton also had two hits and climbed to .302.

Junior left-hander Stan Skakalski turned in his second straight solid starting performance in a mid-week, non-league game as he went five innings and improved to 3-0. Skakalski allowed three hits and three runs (one earned) while striking out seven and walking three.

Senior right-hander James Beever gave the Indians' pitching staff a needed boost with three effective innings, allowing three hits and three runs (two earned).

Junior right-hander Gary Gilbert, the Indians' first baseman, posted his first Southeast save as he recorded three outs in the ninth after Beever hit the leadoff batter, that runner eventually scoring to make it 7-6.

"Our pitchers were all solid," Hogan said.

Josh Allison homered twice for ASU, which led 3-2 until Southeast took control with a four-run fifth, the big blow being Hopkins' two-run double. Stuckey and Christian added RBI singles.

Southeast visits Middle Tennessee today in another non-league contest, then resumes OVC play this weekend with a three-game home series against Eastern Illinois.

Noteworthy

Southeast senior left-hander Tim Alvarez, who is 9-1 with a 1.44 earned-run average, is tied for first nationally in wins among Division I pitchers, according to the first NCAA statistics of the season released this week. He is also 10th in ERA.

Another Indian left-hander, sophomore Jon Nourie, is 15th in strikeouts per nine innings with 11.5.

mmishow@semissourian.com

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