Redhawks pitchers try to build on weekend series

Southeast Missouri State's pitching staff has struggled much of the season, but the baseball Redhawks are coming off one of their best-pitched series in some time.

Coach Mark Hogan hopes that will carry over into a two-game set with nonconference opponent Central Arkansas that marks the Redhawks' final home action of the year.

The Redhawks and Bears will square off at 3 p.m. today and 3 p.m. Wednesday. Today's contest originally was scheduled for 6:30 p.m., but was moved up because tonight's forecast calls for rain.

Southeast, which has one of the worst ERAs in the Ohio Valley Conference, allowed eight earned runs over 26 innings during a three-game weekend series with Eastern Kentucky.

"These two games will be important to keep getting our pitching lined up," Hogan said. "I was very encouraged with the pitching [against Eastern Kentucky]."

The Redhawks climbed back to the .500 mark both overall and in OVC play by taking two of three from the visiting Colonels.

Southeast needed late-inning heroics in both of the victories.

In the first game of the series, the Redhawks trailed 4-0 entering the ninth inning, but rallied for a 5-4 win in 10 innings. In the third game, they trailed 7-4 entering the ninth, but scored four times for an 8-7 triumph.

"Those were two very big wins for us," Hogan said.

Southeast (21-21, 11-11) is fifth in the 10-team OVC with three conference games remaining, Friday and Saturday at ninth-place Morehead State.

The top six finishers qualify for next week's OVC tournament in Paducah, Ky.

Barring rainouts around the league, Southeast will nail down a tournament berth if it takes at least two of three from the Eagles.

In the meantime, the Redhawks will look to build momentum against UCA, which is 24-25-1 overall and 11-15-1 in the Southland Conference.

The squads met last season, in Conway, Ark., and split a two-game set. Southeast won the opener 12-5 and dropped the finale 13-11.

UCA has wins over nationally ranked Wichita State and Mississippi, which at the time was ranked.

"They'll be a solid ballclub," Hogan said.

Hogan said he plans to start sophomore left-hander Josh Syberg today.

Syberg, a solid conference starter during his freshman season, has struggled this year and was taken out of the league rotation a few weeks ago. He is 0-3 with a 7.62 ERA.

"We'll let Josh go as far as he can," Hogan said. "After that, we'll use a lot of guys to get ready for the weekend."

From a statistical standpoint, Southeast and UCA are fairly similar.

The teams have identical batting averages of .288 and their ERAs are nearly identical, with Southeast at 5.73 and UCA at 5.83.

Both squads have power, with the Redhawks hitting 50 home runs compared to the Bears' 46.