OVC-leading Southeast Missouri State baseball team will receive road test vs. JSU

~ The first-place Southeast baseball team faces one of the OVC's perennially strong teams

One of the thoughts that crosses Southeast Missouri State baseball coach Steve Bieser's mind when he thinks about Jacksonville State baseball is coach Jim Case and the success he's led his program to in his 13 years at the helm.

The Gamecocks have won five Ohio Valley Conference championships and have made it to the OVC tournament championship game seven times over the past 10 seasons under Case, so Bieser knows that his first-place ball club will have its work cut out when the teams meet in a three-game weekend series.

"The one thing you're always certain about his clubs is that they don't beat themselves," Bieser said. "They play very fundamental baseball. They're well-coached and they just don't make a lot of mistakes. They're a very difficult opponent because you know you've got to play a really clean game to win games, especially at their place.

"Obviously this is a big weekend for us and we need to go in and make a statement against one of the top teams in our conference. It's definitely a big challenge, and it's something that's going to tell a lot about our baseball club this weekend."

The Redhawks and Gamecocks open the series with a game at 6 p.m. today at Rudy Abbott Field in Jacksonville, Ala.

Games 2 and 3 are scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Southeast (27-13, 17-4 OVC) remains in first place in the conference standings with a three-game lead over Tennessee Tech with nine OVC games remaining.

Jacksonville State (22-17, 11-7 OVC) sits in third place -- three games back in the loss column -- with 12 conference games left on its schedule.

"One of the things about being a top team at this point is you've got that target on your back," Bieser said. "And other teams that maybe weren't faring as well early, they want to make a statement and let everybody know that they've got a good club, and they're going to basically lock arms with the best team in the OVC at this point and they're going to show them what they've got.

"I think that's something that our club has to be able to rise to that challenge. I've always felt that it's easier to play as the underdog, and now when you have more expectations on you there's some things that you've basically got to be prepared for, and if you don't prepare properly for those things, it can really bite you."

Bieser said he's made that clear to his team throughout the season without talking about it specifically.

"We've got a lot of smart guys on our team and they understand that, and it's just more about we take care of our business," Bieser said. "We've got to approach every single day with that mindset of 'We're going to get better,' because everyone else is working just as hard and trying to improve their game to get to where they want it. We've got to do the exact same thing. We can't take anything for granted.

"We're in the position that we're in right now because of the hard work that we put in early season, preseason, all those things that we did up to this point is the reason we have success, and we just can't sit back and say that we've got everything figured out. We've got to continue to push each day to improve our standing, where we're at at this point, and I think we've got guys that really buy into that and understand that the reason they are where they are is because they've put in the hard work."

The Redhawks will look to snap a two-game losing streak. The Gamecocks picked up a 2-1 win Wednesday against Troy on a walk-off hit in 10 innings.

JSU was swept by Tennessee Tech last weekend.

The two teams are comparable statistically in multiple categories against conference opponents.

Southeast's .329 batting average against conference opponents is tops in the league, while JSU sits in third with .314.

JSU's Griff Gordon is batting .425 in OVC play and Stephen Barlett hits .418, while Southeast's Derek Gibson and Matt Tellor are batting .420 and .409, respectively, against OVC opponents.

Tellor is questionable for today's game after injuring his left arm in a collision during the Redhawks' game against SIU-Carbondale on Tuesday, but Bieser seemed optimistic.

"Matt got back from seeing the doctor [Wednesday] and it's diagnosed as a sprained UCL there in his elbow and it's fairly painful for him at this point, but it's something that he feels like he's going to be able to play through," Bieser said.

Tellor wanted to see how it felt to swing a bat at practice after he returned from the doctor Wednesday, but Bieser had him take the day off and expected to have a better idea of whether he'd be in the lineup once they completed workouts in Jacksonville.

Southeast's pitching staff ranks fourth in OVC play with a 4.55 ERA, while the Gamecocks are one notch below at 4.99.

Southeast pitcher Skylar Cobb also is nursing an injury. Cobb injured his knee when he fell attempting to field a ball in a game against Eastern Illinois on April 18.

"Skylar threw today off the mound and felt pretty good," Bieser said Wednesday. "He was still a little timid on getting after it at full speed, but I think after he got into his throwing session he started feeling more and more comfortable with it and I think he feels like he can definitely go for this weekend."

Southeast's starting rotation for the series will be Alex Winkelman today, Travis Hayes on Saturday and Ryan Lenaburg on Sunday.