SEMO Baseball reloads through JUCO transfers

Southeast Missouri State outfielder Michael Mugan hit his fourth home run of the season to lead the Redhawks to a series-salvaging 10-3 win over St. Thomas on Sunday, Feb. 25, at Capaha Field.

"Kind of a frustrating weekend for us on a lot of parts," Mugan said. "We were struggling to let the ball get to us coming off that weekend at Dallas Baptist. We were out in front all weekend and we made some adjustments as a team where we weren't gonna get beat deep and just kind of let it come to me."

Mugan finished the game batting 1-for-4 with four RBIs. Catcher Shea McGahan's first hit as a Redhawk was also a home run.

"I think always at this level, you got to work off the fastball," Mugan said.

With four home runs in the first eight games of the season, Mugan has a homer in half of the games. That, along with a .333 average, is an impressive feat considering he was previously playing junior college in California.

"I think here, every pitcher on the staff has a pitch to get you out," Mugan said. "There's not really a whole lot of pitchers in Division I baseball who don't have a secondary pitch that they can throw when they want. There's always a growth period that I think we all go through and I think I went through that in the fall."

A key observation that SEMO head coach Andy Sawyers had of his new outfielder is "He's way stronger than he looks."

"I remember when I recruited him, he was playing summer baseball and he had his wisdom teeth out," Sawyers said of Mugan. "I was like 'Maybe just go home and lift some weights to try to gain some weight'. He's like, 'Coach, I'm strong enough. Don't worry about me.' I guess he was right."

Mugan, McGahan, Ben Palmer, Josh Cameron, Haden Dow, Chance Resetich, Bryce Cannon, Keoni Coloma, and Alex Hayes all had a hand in the Redhawks win on Sunday. They also have one major thing in common when it comes to their origin. They are among the 16 Redhawks who came to Capaha from the junior college ranks.

SEMO, through both Sawyers and former head coach Steve Bieser (now with Jacksonville State) all reload the roster through the JUCO ranks. However, it is a matter of adaptation to the Ohio Valley Conference's practices rather than innovation.

"I think the OVC is pretty heavy JUCO," Sawyers said. "That's just kind of where our league lives. The guy before me won a lot with a lot of junior college transfers. We're kind of a landing spot for good junior college players. If I didn't think they could step in right away, we wouldn't recruit so many of them."

Probably the best example is Atlanta Braves pitcher Dylan Dodd, who transferred to SEMO from Kankakee Community College in 2019 and became an ace in his final two years on his way to being the highest MLB Draft pick in Redhawk history.

Sawyers' main reason behind it is simple. While other schools recruit talented high school kids to develop and build a program around, SEMO brings in ready-made adults to combat that traditional strategy.

"I don't care how talented a freshman is," Sawyers said. "If you're 18 competing with 22-year-old men, the advantage goes to the 22-year-old. Just the added strength and age and maturity really helps."

Sawyers said he originally tried to build through high school recruiting when he first arrived at SEMO. Unfortunately, developmental patience in the OVC is not a virtue. That much is being demonstrated in basketball, where the Redhawks went from an experienced team primed to make a tournament run to a young team going through growing pains at the bottom of the OVC standings, which will likely prompt a Cardinals-like influx of upperclassmen through the transfer portal.

The Redhawks roster consists of four sophomores and Brooks Kettering as the only freshman on the team.

"He's not worried about his batting average or worried about how many hits he gets. He just wants the team to win," Sawyers said. "So if you have that mindset then the game is probably going to pay you back."

Kettering has started all eight games so far and is fourth on the Redhawks with a .259 average. Sawyers believes that the best of Brooks has yet to come.

"He's a fantastic kid," Sawyers said. "He cares about the right things. He's going to have a wonderful career. He's going to have a lot of multi-hit games this year. He hasn't even got going yet. Wait until he gets going. He's super talented."

The Redhawks travel to Columbia, Mo. to take on the Missouri Tigers on Tuesday, Feb. 27.