Simmons off to fast start in Braves organization

Former Scott City High School and Southeast Missouri State baseball standout Shae Simmons is off to a dazzling start in his second professional season.

Simmons already has compiled seven saves as the closer for the Rome Braves, Atlanta's Class A affiliate in the South Atlantic League. He is tied for the league lead in saves.

Simmons, a right-handed pitcher, has an 0-1 record and 2.45 ERA. He has allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out 16 in 11 innings.

His strong 2013 start has followed Simmons' impressive rookie pro season last year after he was drafted by the Braves in the 22nd round.

Simmons went 0-2 with two saves and a 3.48 ERA for the Advanced Rookie level Danville Braves. He struck out 21, walked eight and allowed 11 hits over 10 1/3 innings.

That came after Simmons did not allow an earned run in 14 1/3 innings with the Rookie level Gulf Coast League Braves before being promoted. He was 2-0 with 15 strikeouts.

Meanwhile, the other local high school graduate and former Southeast baseball standout drafted by the Braves last year has seen his second professional campaign delayed a bit by injury, but he should be rounding back into form soon.

Advance product Trenton Moses suffered a broken hand in the offseason after also having an impressive rookie year.

Moses, a third baseman drafted in the 26th round, led Danville with a .298 batting average last year while recording three home runs, 10 doubles, 18 RBIs and 19 runs scored.

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The Southeast football team, which concluded spring practice with Saturday's spring game, has plenty of holes to fill in the 2013 season after losing 23 seniors, many of whom ranked among the squad's top players.

Quarterback is one position that provides plenty of experience and depth -- and it's a position that will be interesting to follow during fall practice that begins in early August.

Junior Kyle Snyder, the Ohio University transfer who was going to be the 2012 starter before suffering a season-ending knee injury early in fall camp, has looked good this spring.

Snyder, the biggest of Southeast's signal callers, has a strong arm to go along with the good mobility and running skills so vital to the Redhawks' option-oriented offense.

Sophomores Scott Lathrop, who replaced Snyder as the 2012 starter and wound up being the Ohio Valley Conference freshman of the year, and Blake Jackson -- who showed promise in limited action last year -- also have been solid this spring.

That trio should continue to wage a battle in the fall.

My gut tells me that Snyder will open the season as the starter and Southeast coaches will find ways to get Lathrop and Jackson on the field in certain situations.

If Snyder and Lathrop both stay healthy, it might be an option to redshirt Jackson, the only one among the three who has not used up a redshirt season. But that's purely speculation on my part.

The bottom line is that it's sure better to have too many capable quarterbacks than not enough.

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The Southeast baseball team took a big hit last week when it was learned that junior center fielder Cole Bieser would miss the rest of the season with a wrist injury that will require surgery.

Bieser injured his left wrist while attempting to make a diving catch April 16 against Arkansas State. He immediately came out of the game and missed the following weekend's three-game OVC series at Eastern Illinois.

It was originally hoped that Bieser only sprained his wrist, but results of an MRI revealed tore ligaments.

Bieser is batting .306 and ranks among the OVC leaders in stolen bases, having swiped 15 without being caught. He was first in the league in steals at the time of his injury.

Southeast already had been without three anticipated key pitchers all season. All three had surgery before the campaign began.

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The OVC had two players selected in the seven-round NFL draft that concluded Saturday, led by Tennessee-Martin defensive tackle Montori Hughes.

Hughes, who began his college career at Tennessee, was taken with the sixth pick of the fifth round by the Colts. He was the 139th overall selection.

Jacksonville State wide receiver Alan Bonner went in the sixth round to the Texans with the 195th overall pick.

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It remains to be seen how everything pans out, but on paper the Rams appear to have had an exceptional draft, adding several offensive playmakers to finally provide some much-needed weapons for quarterback Sam Bradford.

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The SEMO Swarm AAU basketball team, which includes several players from high schools in the Southeast Missourian coverage area, is faring well during its inaugural season that includes winning the title at the recent Best Buy Invitational in Cincinnati.

Jackson junior guard/forward Karson King was named the tournament's MVP.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.