SE VISITS MIZZOU; EDU SERIES LOOMS

Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team will close out the regular season this weekend with a huge Ohio Valley Conference home series against Eastern Kentucky.

But before the Indians begin thinking about that, they'll shoot for a season sweep of the University of Missouri when the squads square off today in a 5 p.m. first pitch at Simmons Field in Columbia.

The Indians defeated the Tigers 14-8 on March 8 in Cape Girardeau. Southeast had five home runs in that game, three by Jeff Bourbon and two by Charlie Marino.

"We've had good games with them in the past and I look for another one," said Southeast coach Mark Hogan. "Missouri always has a very good ballclub."

Southeast is 32-14 overall and contending for the OVC title while Missouri is 29-21 but struggling in Big 12 Conference play at 10-14.

A victory for the Indians over the Tigers would break the school record for wins in a season, the 1995 and 1998 Southeast teams also having recorded 32 triumphs.

Following today's game, the Indians can turn their full attention to the big series against Eastern Kentucky at Capaha Field. The squads will play a 2 p.m. doubleheader Saturday and a 2 p.m. single game Sunday.

Eastern Kentucky leads the nine-team OVC with a 17-4 record while Southeast is in second place at 15-5. The Indians need to win all three games from the Colonels to capture their first OVC regular-season title; just one victory by the Colonels gives them the crown.

But, even if the Indians fall short of the championship, they stand a very good chance of earning the right to host the OVC Tournament that will be played next week.

Not every OVC team plays on a field with lights, so the highest regular-season finisher with lights hosts the league tourney. Eastern Kentucky has no lights and is not eligible to host.

Southeast is battling third-place Middle Tennessee, which is 14-6 in conference play, for the host spot. The Raiders close the regular season with a three-game series at Eastern Illinois this weekend.

The Indians, by virtue of winning two of three games from the Raiders earlier this season, hold the tie-breaker over Middle Tennessee. The best the Raiders can finish in league play is 17-6, so two wins for the Indians this weekend definitely means that the OVC Tournament will be played in Cape Girardeau. And even just one victory by Southeast could very well do the trick.

Southeast has hosted the past two OVC tourneys without winning the regular-season championship; the Indians finished second in the league both years.