Redhawks rediscover thrill of conference baseball race

After a three-year absence, it's nice to see the Southeast Missouri State baseball team back in the running for an Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship heading into the late stages of the campaign.

Following Saturday's doubleheader sweep of visiting Morehead State, the Redhawks find themselves in second place in the tight OVC race, one-half game behind Austin Peay and one-half game ahead of Jacksonville State.

The Redhawks -- 30-19 overall and 15-7 in conference play -- have returned to the relatively familiar contending role that has marked much of coach Mark Hogan's 13-year tenure at Southeast.

While Southeast has just one OVC regular-season title to its credit, in 2002, the Redhawks placed second six other times.

From 1998 through 2003, Southeast finished no worse than second in the conference, making the Redhawks one of the league's most consistent programs.

But the past three years were not as kind to the Redhawks, who tied for fourth in 2004 and 2005, and tied for sixth last season to earn the final spot in the league tournament.

This season Southeast -- which has won two OVC tournament titles and made two NCAA regional appearances under Hogan -- has bounced back nicely from last year's struggles that saw the Redhawks go 23-33 overall and 11-16 in conference play.

Whether or not the Redhawks capture the OVC regular-season crown, they have demonstrated that they deserve to at least be among the top contenders when the conference tournament begins in less than two weeks.

The real reward in the OVC goes to the tournament winner anyway, since that squad receives the league's NCAA regional berth.

And if the Redhawks can finish either first or second in the final standings, they'll secure an important bye for the opening round of the conference tournament, thus saving vital pitching.

There are only four OVC games remaining, but plenty is still on the line as the Redhawks try to finish off this resurgent regular season in style.

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In college basketball, the benchmark for a solid season is generally 20 wins.

For college baseball, the figure is widely regarded as 30 victories. Southeast reached that milestone Saturday.

In Hogan's first nine seasons at Southeast, his teams surpassed 30 wins six times, including four straight from 2000 through 2003.

The Redhawks fell short of that figure the last three years before again reaching it this season.

During the 49-year history of Southeast baseball, the team has posted only eight 30-win seasons -- and seven of them have come during Hogan's 13-year run.

In addition, Southeast has never failed to make the OVC tournament under Hogan, a 13-year streak that ties for the longest in conference history.

It's not difficult to see how impressive a job Hogan -- the program's all-time winningest coach -- has done at Southeast.

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Well, John Ishee's big day finally arrived.

I don't know if it compared to him leading the Southeast women's basketball team to OVC regular-season and tournament titles this year, or him being named the Redhawks' permanent head coach after serving most of the season as acting head coach.

But Ishee is a self-professed baseball nut -- he attends just about every Southeast home game -- and all year he had been talking about wanting to throw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to a Redhawks contest.

Saturday, that moment finally came as the Redhawks began their last home baseball series against Morehead State.

And what a pitch it was -- a strike, right down the heart of the plate.

Ishee has proven himself to be quite a basketball coach, but who knew he could also fling such a mean baseball?

Sign him up!

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Although the extent of the injury has not been officially announced, all indications are that Southeast men's basketball player Jajuan Maxwell tore an ACL, which will make it extremely difficult for him to recover in time for next season.

Maxwell, a 6-foot-6 forward, had a solid freshman campaign for the Redhawks last year, averaging 5.2 points per game while shooting 36 percent from 3-point range.

While you've got to feel bad for Maxwell personally -- by all accounts he's a fine young man -- even if he misses all of the 2007-08 campaign, it definitely should not be a crippling blow for the Redhawks.

Maxwell displayed potential coming off the bench for a squad that lacked quality depth in Scott Edgar's first year, but unless other injuries hit or some recruits don't live up to their billing, the Redhawks should be plenty deep enough in Edgar's second season.

If the Redhawks were going to be legitimate OVC contenders anyway -- they certainly appear to have the talent for that -- Maxwell's injury shouldn't alter those plans.

If Maxwell can't return for next season, he'll be able to redshirt and would still have three years of eligibility remaining.

Here's wishing Maxwell all the best as he recovers from the injury.

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While Edgar appears to have completed his recruiting class for next season with the signing of junior college point guard Hank Harris, Ishee has also all but wrapped up his recruiting for the 2007-08 campaign.

The two forwards Ishee signed this past week means he has one more available scholarship.

Ishee said he is still in the market for a strong post player, but if nothing materializes, he will likely carry the final scholarship over to next year, which would leave him some flexibility if a transfer pops up.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian