LaBruyere finishes Southeast Missouri State baseball career in style

JACKSON, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State senior pitcher Brad LaBruyere finished his college career in high style.

The odds of that happening weren't great when taking into account LaBruyere's first three seasons at his hometown university.

LaBruyere's top ERA had been 7.16, which came during his sophomore season when he went 3-1 primarily out of the bullpen. His ERA last year was 11.30 when he pitched just 14 1/3 innings, all in relief.

But LaBruyere showed Southeast's coaching staff enough in the fall to warrant a spot near the top of the Redhawks' rotation this season.

The Central High School graduate delivered all year and made his final start especially memorable, throwing arguably the game of his life Friday to help Southeast stave off elimination at the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

That performance, which nearly ended in a complete-game shutout, earned LaBruyere a spot on the all-tournament team.

"Not too bad. I could have went out in worse ways, I guess," said LaBruyere, who scattered 12 hits, struck out nine and walked two while throwing 159 pitches over 8 2/3 innings to beat Tennessee Tech 6-1.

The run off LaBruyere came with two outs in the ninth inning. He never before had thrown more than 6 1/3 innings in any outing for the Redhawks.

LaBruyere, a conference starter all year, finished with a 9-2 record and 3.55 ERA. LaBruyere led Southeast in wins and is tied for the most in the OVC. He also had the Redhawks' top ERA among starters, a mark that ranks fifth in the conference.

"He had a tremendous season," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "I'm really happy for him, and the way he ended it was sensational."

LaBruyere, who has been one of the Plaza Tire Capahas' top starters the past few summers, said the chance to work regularly made all the difference.

"Just getting to pitch a lot, I think, was the big thing," he said.

LaBruyere was one of three Southeast players to make the 13-member all-tournament squad.

Other selections for the Redhawks were senior first baseman Casey Jones and junior shortstop Kenton Parmley.

Jones batted .333 (6 for 18) with two homers, three doubles, seven RBIs and five runs scored in the tournament.

Parmley led Southeast with a .474 average (9 for 19). He had two doubles and three RBIs.

Heavy losses

Southeast loses 18 seniors, many of whom were among the squad's top players.

Ten of the Redhawks' 13 pitchers were seniors this year, including all three conference starters and Logan Mahon, their top reliever.

The Redhawks will return some key position players, led by junior third baseman Trenton Moses.

Moses, the OVC player of the year, led Southeast in batting average (.395), home runs (11) and RBIs (53). All three figures ranked among the league leaders.

"It's tough to replace all those guys," Moses said about the seniors. "But you go back to two years ago, we lost so many guys and brought in a lot of the guys who are seniors now. Hopefully it will turn out well."

There is a chance Moses will be selected in the upcoming amateur draft, but he said he hadn't given it much thought and plans on being back at Southeast next year.

Mahon and Moses are considered to have the best shot among Southeast's players at being drafted.

Austin Peay wins

Top-seeded Austin Peay made it a clean sweep of the OVC by winning the tournament by beating defending champion Jacksonville State 7-3 on Saturday night.

The Governors (33-22), who also captured the OVC regular-season title, went 3-0 in the tournament to earn the league's automatic NCAA regional berth.

Two of Austin Peay's tournament wins were over the Gamecocks (36-23).

Austin Peay's Jack Snodgrass, who pitched the Govs past Jacksonville State 4-1 in Friday's winners bracket final, was named the tournament MVP.