Redhawks open OVC play this weekend

~ The Southeast baseball team takes a seven-game winning streak to Morehead St.

Southeast Missouri State has qualified for the Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament a league-record 15 consecutive years, or every season that Mark Hogan has been the Redhawks' coach.

After many of Southeast's top players from last year completed their eligibility, the 2010 OVC preseason poll voted on by the conference's coaches predicted the Redhawks to finish seventh in the nine-team league. Only the top six make the tournament.

The Redhawks begin their quest this weekend in Morehead, Ky., to show the rest of the OVC they are much better than anticipated and have no intention of missing an event they have been a fixture in.

"I think we have something to prove," junior right fielder Louie Haseltine said. "Our goal is to win the OVC."

The Redhawks (13-8) open their 24-game conference schedule with a three-game series at Morehead State (12-12). There will be a noon doubleheader Saturday and a noon contest Sunday.

"We've got some answering to do," said Hogan, in his 16th season at his alma mater. "We were picked seventh. Our guys are aware of that."

If their first 21 games are an indication, the Redhawks not only should make the tournament but even challenge for the OVC regular-season championship.

Southeast has the league's best overall record entering the first conference weekend of the season.

"Our record kind of speaks for itself," senior All-American catcher Jim Klocke said. "But now everybody starts out 0-0."

The Redhawks have won seven straight and nine of 10, all that damage coming on a recently concluded 10-game homestand. And it's not like their schedule has been filled with overmatched opponents.

"I think we've played well against a good schedule," said Hogan, whose squad has faced several teams from major conferences. "It's not like we've beaten up on a bunch of patsies."

The Redhawks, fourth in the OVC last year, have received stout hitting and strong pitching to go with solid defense.

Southeast is second in the OVC with a .335 batting average while leading the league with a 4.82 ERA after last season's pitching staff struggled with a 6.76 ERA, by far the worst in Hogan's tenure.

"Our pitching has been great," Haseltine said of a staff dotted with newcomers, many of them junior college transfers. "It seems like everybody we throw out there has done a good job."

Southeast's offense also has been bolstered by several juco transfers, led by third baseman Casey Jones.

Jones had his 14-game hitting streak snapped Wednesday against Arkansas State but still ranks fourth in the OVC with a .438 average.

Juco transfer left fielder Michael Adamson is ninth in the league at .389 while leading Southeast with 10 doubles and 22 RBIs.

Haseltine has a team-high five home runs and has homered in the last three games.

"We've been hitting up and down the lineup," Haseltine said.

In the pitching department, Southeast's three starters who are slated to get the ball this weekend rank among the OVC's top six in ERA.

Senior right-hander Kyle Gumieny (3-0, 3.48) is third, with juco transfer left-hander Jordan Underwood (1-3, 3.80) fifth and juco transfer left-hander Logan Mahon (2-0, 3.86) sixth.

Southeast also has been solid out of the bullpen, led by late-inning relievers Adamson and Shae Simmons. They both have a victory and two saves.

Morehead's offense has a .320 average, along with league highs of 42 homers and 208 runs scored. But the Eagles' pitching staff has an OVC-worst 8.08 ERA.

Those statistics are not unusual for a club that plays its home games at quirky Allen Field, which features short distances in center and right. Dead center is just 350 feet from home plate, while right-center is only 305 feet away.

Compare that to Southeast's Capaha Field, where center is 400 feet and right-center 380.

"It's a bandbox over there," Hogan said.

The Eagles, picked fifth in the OVC preseason poll after finishing third last year, are led by All-American senior shortstop Drew Lee.

Lee, the OVC preseason co-player of the year, is hitting .424 with nine homers and 39 RBIs. He is fifth in the OVC in batting while ranking third in homers and first in RBIs.

Senior center fielder J.D. Ashbrook, another all-OVC pick, is second in the conference with 10 homers while ranking eighth with a .400 average.

Morehead's most effective starting pitcher has been senior right-hander Michael Bottoms (1-1, 6.38).

The Eagles swept the host Redhawks in last year's final series, part of a season-ending swoon that saw Southeast lose nine of its last 10 games. Morehead then eliminated Southeast from the OVC tournament.