SE PAIR AMONG NATION'S BEST

Southeast Missouri State University baseball players Todd Pennington and Clemente Bonilla were regarded as two of the best in the Ohio Valley Conference all season.

And now they can also officially claim to be two of the best in the country.

Pennington, a junior pitcher, and Bonilla, a junior second baseman, were both named Friday as Louisville Slugger/TPX All-Americans, Pennington making the second team and Bonilla garnering third-team honors.

"It's just outstanding for both of them," said Southeast coach Mark Hogan. "This is the highest honor that you can get and for them to make it is really tremendous. They're both very deserving and I think they both could very well show up on some of the other All-American teams that will be coming out."

Hogan said he fully expected Pennington to receive All-American honors because the right-hander had one of the best seasons in OVC history.

A product of Shawnee (Ill.) High School, Pennington was named OVC Pitcher of the Year as he went 12-2 with a 1.33 earned-run average that leads the nation heading into the NCAA Tournament.

Pennington, who set a school record for victories, allowed just 51 hits in 95 innings while striking out 121 and walking 36. He is tied for 12th nationally in wins and is 14th in strikeouts per nine innings at 11.5.

Pennington will also find his name in the NCAA record book next season as his 4.81 hits allowed per nine innings ranks 12th all-time in Division I.

"I really expected Penny to make All-American. The numbers he put up this season are just unbelievable," Hogan said. "If Penny had not made it, it would have been a real crime."

Bonilla, who is from California, was named OVC Player of the Year. He was second in the conference in batting average at .382 and set the OVC record for walks in a season with 61.

Southeast's all-time and single-season leader in walks, Bonilla had an on-base percentage of .564 and a slugging percentage of .645. He also had 20 doubles, six home runs and 34 runs batted in.

"I wasn't sure if Clemente would get on any of the All-American teams, but he had a tremendous season," said Hogan. "When you add 61 walks to his hit total, he's got to have one of the best on-base percentages in the country. And for a second baseman to have those kinds of numbers is really impressive."

Added Hogan, "It's great for our program to have players receive these kinds of honors. And to have two in one year make All-American is really something. I've never had that happen before, here or anywhere I've coached."

Southeast has now had six players earn some kind of All-American honors in the past four seasons. Jeremy Johnson was a third-teamer last year and Ryan Spille was on the second team in 1998. In addition, Jeff Bourbon (1998) and Zach Borowiak (2000) both received Freshman All-American recognition.

And Hogan fully expects one more player to join that list in the weeks to come because he anticipates Brad Beatty, who batted .353 this year, to show up on some Freshman All-American squads.