SE ACE IS OVC'S TOP GUN -- AGAIN

As dominant as Southeast Missouri State University pitcher Todd Pennington has been so far this year, the Ohio Valley Conference probably has no choice but to keep honoring him.

For the third time since the baseball season began a little more than a month ago, Pennington has been named the OVC Pitcher of the Week.

The latest award, announced Monday, came on the heels of Pennington's brilliant performance Saturday against Belmont, when the junior right-hander gave up two hits and no earned runs in 8 2/3 innings of a 3-1 Southeast victory. He struck out 10 and walked four.

Pennington, who is 4-0 and has won his last four starts, had shared the league's pitcher of the week award during the first two weeks of the season.

A product of Shawnee (Ill.) High School, Pennington's sparkling 0.71 earned-run average leads the OVC by nearly two runs per game. In 38 innings, he has allowed just 16 hits while fanning 44 and walking 17. Pennington is first in the OVC in strikeouts.

"Todd is just having a fantastic season for us so far," said Southeast coach Mark Hogan. "He's really been great."

In fact, Pennington has been so impressive that Hogan has decided to move him up to the front of the starting rotation instead of the No. 3 slot he had been holding down. Pennington is scheduled to open this weekend's three-game OVC series at Murray State.

Meanwhile, the Indians will play their sixth straight non-conference game today when they hit the road for a 4 p.m. first pitch against the St. Louis Billikens, who will then come to Cape Girardeau for a 4 p.m. contest Wednesday at Capaha Field.

The Indians have won four straight to improve their overall record to 15-8. They are 2-1 in OVC action, having played just one league series to date (against Morehead State).

Eastern Illinois is the early OVC leader at 5-0, with Austin Peay also undefeated at 3-0.

Bonilla top hitter

While Pennington has been the OVC's top pitcher so far, Southeast junior second baseman Clemente Bonilla leads the league in hitting with a .431 average.

Zach Borowiak, the Indians' sophomore shortstop, is the OVC's third-leading hitter at .398.

As a group, the Indians are fourth in the eight-team conference with a .286 batting average.

In the pitching department, the Indians have by far the league's top ERA with a 3.33 mark, well ahead of Tennessee Tech's 4.72.

Besides Pennington, Southeast has three other hurlers who rank in the top seven in OVC ERA, including Mark Frazier, who is second at 2.62. Greg Lunski (3.38) and Tommy Thomas (3.64) are sixth and seventh, respectively.

"Our pitching as a whole has been outstanding so far," Hogan said. "And our hitting is starting to come around."