Redhawks' bats face nation's best pitching in talented regional

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team (34-25) will make its sixth appearance in program history when the Redhawks go to the Fayetteville regional on Friday, May 31.

The Redhawks came up short in every regional, with their only win coming against Alabama in 2002. If SEMO somehow shocks the world and advances to the first super regional in program history, it will be matched with the winner of the Charlottesville regional either Friday, June 7 – Sunday, June 9 or Saturday, June 8 – Monday, June 10, where the two teams will play in a best-of-three tournament format at the home of the higher seed.

This has been the one phase in their history in which the Redhawks have made numerous appearances in the regionals. Using the examples of mid-major success, head coach Andy Sawyers believes that with enough trips to the tournament, the glass ceiling will eventually break.

"The goal is to keep going to regionals," Sawyers said. "If SEMO football goes undefeated this year they're not going to get to play Alabama for the national championship. It doesn't work that way. But college baseball is the sport where the little guy has a chance and you look at who made it last year, Oral Roberts was in the College World Series. Indiana State hosted a stinking regional last year. College baseball's the sport where the little guy can do it and like I'm not gonna say like, this is the year we're going to Ohmaha, that'd be eyewash. But what I tell recruits is our objective is to keep going to regionals often enough we give ourselves a chance to do something special and do some magic."

The Redhawks have the bats to compete in the regional. The Redhawks are one of 31 teams across the country to have hit 100 home runs this season and are among the top 40 teams in runs scored (457). Senior shortstop Ben Palmer leads the regional field with 17 home runs.

SEMO will start against an Arkansas team that is 43-14, has lost only three times at home all season, and has a pitching staff that leads the country in ERA (3.66).

Hagan Smith, with a 9-1 record, a nation-leading 1.48 ERA, and 154 strikeouts over 79 innings pitched, will undoubtedly be the toughest pitcher the Redhawks have faced all season. MLB Pipeline has the junior listed as the No. 6 draft prospect.

Peyton Stovall, who leads the Razorbacks with a .349 batting average, is also among the top 100 MLB Draft prospects.

Speaking of pitchers, Louisiana Tech will send Charleston High School grad Luke Nichols on the mound against Kansas State. Nichols, who joined the Bulldogs this season after two years at Jefferson College, leads LA Tech starting pitchers with a 3.74 ERA and is second among all pitchers in strikeouts with 81. Both numbers have him among the top five among C-USA pitchers.

Nichols demonstrated an ability to handle some of the best lineups in the country, as he previously held the Arizona Wildcats — who host a regional — scoreless on April 13. The Bulldogs finished 45-17 and got an at-large bid despite falling to Dallas Baptist in the C-USA championship game.

“It’s a dream come true,” Nichols said earlier in the season. “Obviously you want to be at a winning program but to be able to contribute to that winning is really awesome. I love this place and love the coaches and just every day getting to come to this beautiful facility that we have is really eye-opening for the people that worked hard before and it just makes us want to be better.”

Kansas State, who got an at-large bid with a 32-24 record and are led by two players among the top 100 draft prospects, according to MLB Pipeline. Shortstop Kaelen Culpepper (No. 31) is tied for the team lead with nine home runs and is batting .316 with a .943 OPS while playing in every game this season. He has the potential to be the first position player in K-State history to be drafted in the first round. Relief pitcher Tyson Neighbors (No. 74) made it on the draft radar for his velocity and slider. He led the Big 12 in saves (11) last year and enters the regionals with eight saves.

As usual, the deck is stacked against SEMO in this regional. If SEMO could pull off an upset against Arkansas, or Nichols leads LA Tech to the super regional, the Southeast Missouri area would be well represented in the NCAA Tournament.