Redhawks make final bid for tournament bye

~ Southeast wraps up its OVC schedule with a three-game series at Tennessee Tech.

Southeast Missouri State and Tennessee Tech are both desperate for wins, but for different reasons.

That should make for an intriguing season-ending Ohio Valley Conference series in Cookeville, Tenn.

Southeast (30-20, 15-8) and Tech's Golden Eagles (24-27, 10-14) will play a 1 p.m. doubleheader today and a 1 p.m. contest Saturday.

The Redhawks have already locked up their 13th consecutive berth in the OVC tournament, tying a conference record. But Southeast would dearly love to finish either first or second in the final standings, thus earning a bye for the opening round of next week's six-team league tournament in Paducah, Ky. The Redhawks are in third place among 10 squads, one-half game behind Jacksonville State and 1 1/2 games in back of Austin Peay.

Passing Austin Peay to win the OVC regular-season title will be a tall order. Even if the Govs win just one of three against visiting Eastern Kentucky today and Saturday, Southeast would have to sweep Tech in order to overtake Austin Peay.

But passing Jacksonville State is certainly not out of the question, as the Gamecocks finish up at Murray State.

"There is still a lot left to be decided," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "Of course we would love to win the [regular-season] championship, but finishing second would also be big because it saves pitching for the tournament. We've just got to try and take care of business ourselves and then see how all the math works out."

While Southeast knows it will still be playing baseball next week, Tech needs a strong finishing kick and some help in order to make sure that is the case.

The Eagles are in seventh place, one game out of the sixth and final tournament spot.

"They're still mathematically alive, so they'll come at us with everything they've got," Hogan said. "It should be a really interesting series."

Tech features a potent offense that ranks second in the OVC with a .305 batting average. The Eagles have scored the second-most runs in the league with 337.

Seven regulars are hitting above .300 for the Eagles, led by senior catcher Steve Soper, who is having a monster season. Soper ranks fourth in the OVC in batting average (.375), second in home runs (10), second in doubles (17), second in RBIs (58), second in slugging percentage (.630) and first in total bases (121).

Tech's pitching has not been as strong as its hitting. The Eagles rank sixth in the conference with a 6.24 ERA. But the Eagles' starting staff has been at least respectable, led by freshman right-hander Jared Dobbs (4-4, 3.86) and senior right-hander Matt Smith (4-3, 4.57). Dobbs has the league's ninth-best ERA.

Southeast counters with the OVC's second-best ERA (4.45), led by its three conference starters who are all among the league's top 10. Junior right-hander Dustin Renfrow (4-1, 2.05) leads the league and ranks 21st nationally in ERA, while senior left-hander Asif Shah (6-2, 2.82) is fourth in ERA and freshman left-hander Josh Syberb (4-2, 3.91) is 10th.

Shah leads the OVC with three shutouts and is tied for first in complete games with six. He also ranks fourth in the conference in strikeouts with 67.

Renfrow is tied for second in shutouts with two, while Syberg is tied for sixth in strikeouts with 62.

Shah and Southeast senior right-hander Phillip Riley (6-3, 2.80) are tied for third in the conference in wins. Riley would rank among the top five in ERA if he had enough innings to qualify.

The Redhawks' .275 batting average is ninth in the OVC, led by sophomore first baseman Matt Wagner at .330, including .370 in league play.