On the warpath

Denver Stuckey is hitting the baseball so well, even he can hardly believe it.

"I don't think I've ever been this hot," Southeast Missouri State University's junior third baseman said.

And Stuckey is definitely sizzling.

The former Kelly High School standout has pounded 15 hits in his last 25 at-bats. After a slow start at the plate, Stuckey -- riding an eight-game hitting streak -- has lifted his batting average to a robust .356.

"I'm getting good pitches and hitting the ball hard," Stuckey said.

Stuckey will look to keep things rolling this weekend when the surging Indians (11-11, 2-1 Ohio Valley Conference) play an OVC series at Eastern Kentucky (6-18, 3-3). There will be a noon doubleheader today and a noon single game Sunday.

"We've really started playing good baseball," Stuckey said of the Indians, who have won five of their last six games and have finally reached the .500 mark after an 0-5 start. "We've got our confidence now."

Stuckey has climbed to a second-place tie for the team batting lead, along with Vern Hatton. They barely trail Tristen McDonald's .357 mark.

The easy-going Stuckey said he tried to not get down on himself early in the season when his average hovered around .200. But he didn't argue with coach Mark Hogan's decision to drop him from leadoff to near the bottom of the batting order.

"The way I was struggling, I expected it," Stuckey said. "Maybe that's what helped me pull out of it."

Stuckey has been back in his leadoff spot for quite a while now and he has thrived. In addition to his batting average, Stuckey is fourth on the Indians in runs batted in with 15, he's second in home runs with two and he's stolen a team-leading nine bases in 11 attempts.

That's in addition to stellar, often spectacular, defense. It's not uncommon for Stuckey to come up with a highlight play every few games.

"But the routine ones are giving me trouble," a laughing Stuckey said in reference to his six errors. "I need to work on them more than anything."

Stuckey has added pitching to his repertoire this season for the first time since high school. A key late-inning reliever for the Indians, Stuckey has a 1.54 earned-run average and one save in 11 2/3 innings. He has allowed seven hits, with 10 strikeouts and two walks.

"Denver is such a valuable player for us," Hogan said. "He's developing into a really fine hitter, he plays great defense, he steals bases. He's very fast and he's got an excellent arm. He's just a really good athlete."

Stuckey, at 6-foot-1, 170 pounds, used those all-around athletic skills to become one of the area's premier basketball and baseball players at Kelly.

After redshirting during his first season at Southeast, Stuckey has been a fixture in the starting lineup the past two years. He batted just .221 as a redshirt freshman but was impressive last year, hitting .311 with five homers and 28 RBIs.

"Denver continues to improve and he's only going to get better," Hogan said.

But even Stuckey admits that doing better than he's done over the past several games will be difficult.

"I'm sure I can't keep this up," he said. "If I can just keep seeing the ball well, I'll take whatever comes."

mmishow@semissourian.com

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