OVC names Klocke Male Athlete of the Year

Chalk up another major honor for Southeast Missouri State's Jim Klocke.

Klocke, a four-year baseball standout at Southeast, on Wednesday was named the Ohio Valley Conference Male Athlete of the Year for 2009-10 in voting by the league's athletics directors and sports information directors.

Klocke, who completed his collegiate eligibility this year, earned first-team all-OVC honors the past three seasons after being the league's freshman of the year in 2007.

Klocke, a St. Louis native, is among 16 semifinalists for the Johnny Bench Award that goes to the top catcher in collegiate baseball.

He also is among the final 10 nominees for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award and recently was named the ESPN The Magazine Baseball Academic All-America of the Year.

Klocke, who ranks high on many of Southeast's career and single-season records lists, recently broke the program's career RBIs mark with 190. He batted .370 with 13 home runs, 22 doubles and 66 RBIs this year.

An All-American on the field as well as in the classroom, Klocke was taken in the 46th round of the 2009 major league draft by the St. Louis Cardinals but elected to return to school.

Klocke is expected to be selected again when the 2010 major league draft is held Monday through Wednesday.

Klocke is just the third baseball player in conference history to win the OVC's Male Athlete of the Year Award since it was instituted in 1976-77, with Southeast's Jeremy Johnson (1999-00) being one of the others.

Southeast's only other OVC Male Athlete of the Year honoree is William "Bud" Eley (basketball, 1998-99).

Southeast has had three OVC Female Athletes of the Year: Jenny Oermann (softball, 1998-99), Kim Palmer (basketball, softball, 1996-97) and Pam Kirsch (volleyball, 1993-94).

The OVC Female Athlete of the Year for 2009-10 is Eastern Illinois senior track and field standout Kandace Arnold.

Klocke and Arnold will receive their awards at the OVC's annual honors luncheon Friday in Nashville, Tenn.