SEMO BASEBALL IN TIGHT THREE-WAY OVC BATTLE

Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team won't have to worry about the Ohio Valley Conference race today -- Belmont visits Capaha Field for a 2 p.m. non-league doubleheader -- but the Indians are certainly locked in quite a three-way battle for OVC supremacy.

The Indians, Eastern Kentucky and Middle Tennessee all posted impressive three-game series sweeps over the weekend to turn the nine-team OVC into basically a three-horse race.

Southeast is technically in first place by percentage points as the Indians have a 12-2 league record after sweeping visiting Morehead State.

Since the OVC does not make up rainouts, all teams generally don't wind up playing the same number of games, so final standings are based on winning percentage.

But the Indians actually trail Eastern Kentucky by one game in the standings. The Colonels, who have played one more conference series than Southeast and four more league games overall, are 15-3 after sweeping Eastern Illinois.

And Middle Tennessee is also very much in the title chase as the Raiders improved to 11-3 with a sweep of Murray State.

"It's shaping up as a great race," said Southeast coach Mark Hogan. "We took care of our business (over the weekend) but so did Eastern Kentucky and Middle Tennessee. All three teams are playing very well right now and the title might not be decided until the final weekend of the regular season."

Barring some unforeseen collapses by the frontrunners, the battle to host the OVC postseason tournament will be between Southeast and Middle Tennessee.

The OVC Tournament is hosted by the highest-finishing regular-season team whose field has lights. Eastern Kentucky does not have lights, but Southeast and Middle Tennessee do.

Southeast earned the right to host the last two OVC tourneys by finishing second during the regular season behind Eastern Illinois, which does not have lights.

* The Indians, 28-10 overall and winners of eight straight games, will be looking for a bit of revenge today when a solid Belmont squad comes to Cape Girardeau.

Belmont, located in Nashville, Tenn., swept a low-scoring April 1 doubleheader from the visiting Indians, prevailing 3-1 and 1-0.

"They've got a solid team and their pitching is very good," said Hogan of the Bruins. "They really handled our offense the last time and I know our players are looking forward to seeing them again."

* Kevin Meyer was thrown out attempting to steal for the first time all season Saturday against Morehead State when he was caught at third on the front end of a double-steal attempt.

Meyer is now 15-for-16 in steals as the Indians have been successful an impressive 72 times in 83 attempts.

Charlie Marino is tied with Meyer for the team lead in thefts as he is 15-for-17. Clemente Bonilla and Denver Stuckey are 11-for-13 and 10-for-13, respectively, while Jeremy Johnson is 7-for-7, Shane Allen 5-for-5 and Darin Kinsolving 4-for-4.

"We've had a tremendous season running the bases so far," Hogan said.

* The Indians have belted 61 home runs to just 19 for the opposition. Marino (13), Johnson (12) and Kinsolving (11) are all in double figures in homers.

Johnson leads the way in batting average (.423), followed by Kinsolving (.383) and Meyer (.375).

* Southeast's top three starting pitchers and the Indians' ace reliever all have earned-run averages of 3.66 or better.

The starters, in order of how they match up for conference series, are Dan Huesgen (4-3, 3.15 ERA), Lanson Debrock (8-3, 2.96) and Tommy Thomas (5-1, 3.66). Reliever Jeffrey Hilz (6-1, 2.03) is the OVC's ERA leader.

* With 14 regular-season games remaining along with the OVC Tournament, the Indians are all but certain to finish with their best record since moving up the Division I level nine years ago.

Southeast previously won 32 games twice as a Division I program, going 32-21 in 1995 during Hogan's first season as coach and 32-24 in 1998.