Redhawks' top power hitter accepts job, leaves team

Reality beckons, as Andy Johnson must report to his employer on Monday.

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team will be without home run leader Andy Johnson for the rest of the season.

Johnson has completed his degree requirements at Southeast and has accepted a job with Excel, a distribution company in Minneapolis, Minn. The job requires that he report Monday or someone else will be hired for the position.

Johnson, a Minnesota native, has six home runs, four doubles, one triple and 15 RBIs in just 68 official at-bats after being moved into the designated hitter role midway through the season. He is second on the Redhawks with a .309 batting average and his slugging percentage of .662 leads the squad.

"This is a tough break for our baseball team, but we recruit players to get an education that will get them a good job," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "Andy hates to leave the team with just a few weeks left in the season, but Excel has required that he report Monday. He told me it is simply too good an offer to turn down. We wish him the best of luck."

Johnson made quite a transition after coming to Southeast last year from junior college, where he was strictly a pitcher.

Johnson did nothing but pitch for the Redhawks last season, but arm problems following the campaign ended his career on the mound. He stayed with the team, worked on his hitting and got his chance midway through the year when Southeast's offense was floundering.

"It's really a pretty incredible story, what Andy did," Hogan said. "It's a shame he couldn't finish out the season, but I can't blame him for taking this job."

The Redhawks, 17-28 overall and 8-13 in the Ohio Valley Conference, will play at Morehead State (15-31, 6-14) in a three-game series this weekend. Johnson will not play this weekend.

Track goes to Georgia

Three Southeast jumpers and pole vaulter Jordan Willi will compete Saturday at the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta, Ga.

Triple jumper Bilal Hameed and long jumper John Berry will be tuning up for the NCAA Mideast Regional, scheduled for May 26 and 27 at the University of Tennessee, while Willi and triple jumper Mike Colon will be attempting to qualify for the regional field.

Southeast, which won both the men's and women's OVC team titles last weekend in Cape Girardeau, has qualified 11 individuals for the NCAA Mideast Regional.

Joining Hameed and Berry in the regional will be Miles Smith and Walt Washington in the 400 meters, Alonzo Nelson in the 400 hurdles and Kevin McNab in the 3,000 steeplechase, along with the 1,600 relay team of Smith, Washington, Nelson and Chris Poindexter.

The Southeast women's team has qualified Heather Jenkins in the shot put and discus, Lindsay Hearne in the javelin, Michele Jett in the pole vault and Lindsay Zeiler in the 1,500.

Ace at booster scramble

Clay Crosson made a hole in one on the par-3, sixth hole while playing in the 23rd annual Kohlfeld Booster Club golf scramble May 1 at the Cape Girardeau Country Club.

Crosson, who works for Americare in Sikeston, re-ceived a two-year service contract from GMC and a new metal driver. The hole in one sponsorship was provided by Cape GMC Pontiac.

Winning the first class in the tournament, with a score of 15-under-par 55, was a team from St. Louis consisting of David Owens, Rick Seim, Mike Gehrs, Dean Hendrickson, John Hummel and Mark Sieli.

Victorious in the second class was the Enterprise Car Rental team of Keith Hartman, Bill Gosche, Bill Scott, Joe James, John Haman and Ryan Benhof.

-- From staff reports