Southeast baseball shows promise despite adversity

It's been a crazy season so far for the Southeast Missouri State baseball team, with four key position players being lost to injury after the Redhawks had already graduated many of their top hitters and ace pitcher from 2009.

But the Redhawks, despite all the adversity they've faced, have shown plenty of promise as they near the start of their Ohio Valley Conference schedule.

With an 11-8 record, having won seven of their last eight games and having seriously pushed several major-conference programs, Southeast certainly doesn't look like a squad that will finish seventh in the OVC, as predicted in the preseason poll.

The Redhawks have two more contests at Capaha Field this week as they wrap up a 10-game homestand -- Tuesday against Saint Louis and Wednesday against Arkansas State -- before beginning OVC play this weekend with a three-game series at Morehead State.

It should be interesting to see how the Redhawks fare in the conference after being picked to finish lower than they ever have under 16th-year coach Mark Hogan.

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Seeing all the injuries the baseball team has experienced makes you wonder if Southeast's athletic department is cursed this year.

The men's and women's basketball teams both were hit with several major injuries that affected their seasons in a negative way.

Then the softball squad lost ace pitcher Giana Zimmerman before the campaign even started. She won't play this season.

It's questionable if the Redhawks will be able to overcome Zimmerman's absence because there is no more important position in college sports than softball pitcher, where a top hurler throws the majority of the time.

It really does make you shake your head, but maybe the law of averages will be on Southeast's side next year and some of the major athletic programs will experience relatively injury-free seasons.

Southeast fans and coaches can only hope that turns out to be the case.

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Southeast men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt is hot on the trail of a 7-foot junior college center who apparently is interested in the Redhawks.

Zach House, a sophomore at Sauk Valley (Ill.) Community College, visited Southeast over the weekend.

House, who weighs 255 pounds, averaged about 15 points, nine rebounds and several blocked shots per game this year at Sauk Valley, which is located in Dixon, Ill., about 100 miles west of Chicago in northwestern Illinois.

House started his college career at Evansville, where he redshirted in 2007-2008 and saw limited action last season.

Nutt brought House by Capaha Field for Friday's baseball doubleheader between Southeast and Valparaiso. I spoke with House for a few minutes. He seemed personable and polite. And he is definitely big.

Also on the recruiting front, I've heard that Nutt is interested in former Bell City standout Nick Niemczyk, a sophomore guard at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

Niemczyk was among the top players this season for the Raiders, although he missed Saturday's 85-80 overtime loss to Howard College in the national final because of a knee injury suffered during the semifinals.

Speaking of TRCC, a piece in last week's column about legendary Raiders coach Gene Bess incorrectly stated that his two national titles came in 1979 and 1982.

I got that directly from a tournament preview on the National Junior College Athletic Association website, but Bess won his second championship in 1992, not 1982.

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Despite being a No. 13 seed, the Murray State basketball team was a popular pick nationally to make some noise in the NCAA tournament.

The Racers backed up many of the so-called experts' faith in them by beating No. 4 seed Vanderbilt 66-65 in a thrilling first-round game Thursday before dropping a 54-52 heartbreaker to No. 5 seed Butler on Saturday.

Murray State (31-5) posted its second NCAA tournament victory and first since 1988.

While that's good for the Racers, it's also good for the OVC. I'm sure some Southeast fans didn't want Murray State to win, but that's foolish. The league will be viewed in a much more favorable light nationally with the positive publicity.

Not counting Morehead State's win in the play-in game last season, the OVC's last NCAA tournament victory was in 1989 by former league member Middle Tennessee State.

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Southeast's third annual Walk for Women's Athletics still has team captain opportunities available.

The event, which raises money for the university's women's athletics scholarship fund, will be May 1 at Houck Field House.

For more information on becoming a captain or on the Walk for Women's Athletics event in general, call 651-2997 or log on to www.gosoutheast.com.

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I wrote last week that even though there are no sure things in sports, I consider the Scott County Central boys basketball repeating as Class 1 state champions to be about as close as you can get.

That turned out to be the case as the Braves crushed every postseason opponent, capped by Saturday's 96-47 destruction of Pilot Grove for the title.

Kudos to the Braves for another sensational season.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.