New chapter to begin for one of Southeast's all-time best

Jim Klocke couldn't have accomplished much more individually during his Southeast Missouri State baseball career that recently ended.

Klocke finished his four-year collegiate run at catcher ranked at or near the top of many of Southeast's career and single-season statistical categories.

The St. Louis native also racked up countless honors, including All-American accolades for his athletic and academic achievements.

Klocke added one more notable award to his resume last week when he was named the Ohio Valley Conference's Male Athlete of the Year.

Now Klocke now will see what the future has in store for him as Major League Baseball's amateur draft is held today through Wednesday.

The draft gets going today with the first round and compensation rounds, followed by rounds two through 30 Tuesday and rounds 31 through 50 Wednesday.

While Klocke won't be picked today, he could have his name called Tuesday, soon after which his professional career will begin to be mapped out.

Klocke was drafted in the 46th round last year by his hometown St. Louis Cardinals but elected not to sign and return to school.

It's hard to argue that Klocke made the wrong choice because he earned his degree, had another sensational season and likely will be drafted significantly higher this week, possibly in the top 30 rounds.

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The OVC has been well represented in recent baseball drafts, with 25 players selected the past three years, including nine in 2009.

Quite a few OVC players should be taken this week, with some of the higher-rated prospects being Jacksonville State's Todd Cunningham, Murray State's Wes Cunningham, Eastern Kentucky Jayson Langfels, Tennessee Tech's A.J. Kirby-Jones and Eastern Illinois pitcher Josh Mueller.

Wes Cunningham and Kirby-Jones probably were the OVC's most feared sluggers this year. Cunningham set the conference single-season record for RBIs with 86 and hit 22 home runs. Kirby-Jones tied the league's single-season homer mark with 26.

Various draft projections have Todd Cunningham going in the first five rounds, with Mueller and Wes Cunningham potentially being taken in the first 10 rounds.

By the way, until Klocke was drafted last year in the 46th round, Southeast had not had a player selected since 2003.

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I always get a kick out of following the baseball draft each year -- all 50 rounds of it -- because it's interesting to see where the players come from.

Big college or small college, big high school or small high school, large city or tiny town, if you've got talent, the scouts will find you.

And there's always a chance some recent area high school graduates will be drafted. I've heard Jackson catcher Tyler Qualls, who has signed with Division I Louisiana Tech, is a possibility.

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I've written several times recently that the Southeast baseball program has recorded eight seasons of 30 or more wins, all under current coach Mark Hogan.

My bad, because Southeast has had one other 30-win campaign, a 30-9 record in 1982 under legendary former coach Joe Uhls.

That mark is impressive considering how few games teams played in those days.

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The popular Kelso Klassic fast-pitch softball tournament will have its 26th annual edition this week at Kelso City Park.

Action begins at 8 p.m. Friday, runs all day Saturday and culminates with Sunday's 3 p.m. championship.

The Decatur (Ill.) Pride, the world's No. 9 International Softball Congress ranked squad, will be back to defend its title.

Other notable contenders in the 14-team event are the Topeka (Kan.) Toros, Aurora (Ill.) Dolan & Murphy and Nokomis (Ill.) Bud Light.

The Toros are the defending NAFA A-Major national champions, Aurora is the world's No. 15 ranked ISC club and Nokomis lost to Decatur in last year's championship game.

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What happened in Wednesday's should-have-been perfect game by the Detroit Tigers' Armando Galarraga against the Cleveland Indians is just the latest example of why MLB needs to expand its instant replay.

If the technology is there to get calls right, like the blown one at first base that would have completed the perfect game, then it's stupid not to use it.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.