POLL: SE TEAM TO BEAT IN OVC

The Southeast Missouri State University Indian baseball team has been picked to win the 1999 Ohio Valley Conference baseball title, according to a poll conducted by the league's head coaches.

The Indians were a unanimous choice to repeat as OVC champs as they received eight first-place votes (head coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team).

Southeast returns 20 of 21 lettermen from last year's team which wnet 32-24 and won the first OVC baseball tournament in school history.

Among the top returnees for Southeast are Jeremy Johnson, the 1998 OVC Tournament MVP, and Charlie Marino who hit a league-high and Southeast record 21 home runs in 1998. Senior Kyle Yount led the Indians at the plate last season with a .351 batting average.

Southeast welcomes back two All-Americans to this year's team. Senior Ryan Spille, the 1998 OVC Pitcher of the Year, was a third-team All-American last season and was named a preseason All-American this year. He had an 11-2 record last year with a 2.72 earned run average. Jeff Bourbon was a freshman All-American las season after hitting .321 with eight homers and 39 RBI.

The Indians begin the 1999 season Feb. 20 at home against Creighton.

Eastern Illinois, which won its first OVC regular-season crown last year, was picked second in the pre-season poll, followed by Eastern Kentucky, Morehead State, Middle Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, Austin Peay, Murray State and Tennessee Martin.

Eastern Illinois won a school-record 37 games last year and returns many of the key performers from an offense that set conference records for batting average (.349) and home runs (120).

Eastern Kentucky has seven starters back from a lineup that batted .326 and stole a league-high 112 bases last season.