Southeast Missouri State baseball team hopes to keep momentum at Jacksonville State

~ The Redhawks look to win their third consecutive conference series against Jacksonville State

By MARTY MISHOW

Southeast Missourian

The Jacksonville State baseball program has the best overall and league records since the Gamecocks joined the Ohio Valley Conference in 2004.

Southeast Missouri State will try to take the Gamecocks down a notch this weekend when the squads square off in a three-game series in Jacksonville, Ala.

There will be 2 p.m. contests today and Saturday, followed by a 1 p.m. matchup Sunday. The Redhawks will be playing their final road games of the regular season.

"They've had a tremendous program over the years," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "There's a lot on the line for both clubs so it should be an interesting series. It generally is when we play them."

JSU (20-23, 12-6) is tied for second place in the 10-team OVC. The Gamecocks have won four consecutive games and six of seven. They are the only OVC team to have at least 30 victories each of the past seven years.

Southeast (16-30, 7-11) has posted two consecutive OVC series victories after losing its first four league series. The Redhawks have won eight of their last 14 games after previously dropping 14 of 15.

The Redhawks are in a three-way tie for seventh in the OVC but are tied for sixth for conference tournament purposes since SIU Edwardsville is not eligible for the event this year. The top six finishers qualify for the tournament.

Southeast has gotten back in contention for extending its conference record of 17 consecutive league tournament appearances with three OVC series remaining.

"We've really been playing a lot better and we've put ourselves in a position to get back to the tournament, but we've still got a lot of work to do," said Hogan, whose squad wraps up a stretch of eight consecutive road games this weekend.

JSU, which went 36-23 last year and finished third in the OVC -- one spot behind Southeast -- has won eight consecutive OVC series dating back to last year. The Gamecocks most recently handed Austin Peay its first OVC series loss since the 2010 season.

Southeast has had some recent success against the Gamecocks, but JSU twice beat the Redhawks while eliminating them from the 2011 OVC tournament.

The Redhawks won both regular-season meetings -- one game was rained out -- during their last visit to JSU in 2010. The teams split two regular-season matchups a year ago -- one contest again was rained out -- in Cape Girardeau.

"We've held our own against them, but the road in the OVC has generally gone through Jacksonville State," Hogan said.

Pitching has sparked JSU's solid OVC record, and it also has been a big part of Southeast's recent resurgence.

JSU has an overall 5.17 ERA, which ranks third in the OVC. The Gamecocks are first with a 3.93 ERA in conference play.

The Gamecocks' three OVC starters are senior Aaron Elias (2-5, 4.01 ERA), junior Hunter Rivers (3-3, 4.79) and senior left-hander Daniel Watts (4-5, 5.43).

JSU also features one of the nation's top closers in senior Todd Hornsby (2-3, 2.97), third in the OVC with nine saves. The All-American set the league's single-season saves record at 15 last year.

The Gamecocks are batting .271 and have scored 228 runs to rank seventh and eighth in the conference, respectively.

Senior third baseman Sam Eberle leads JSU with a .353 average, including an OVC-best .449 mark during league games.

Senior right fielder Kyle Bluestein (.346) and 6-foot-6, 245-pound senior first baseman Ben Waldrip (.321) are other top hitters.

Waldrip has 15 home runs, including a school-record-tying three during Saturday's 17-2 rout of Austin Peay. He also paces the Gamecocks with 43 RBIs.

Southeast will counter on the mound with junior Shae Simmons (3-4, 4.89) today, junior college transfer left-hander Zack Smith (2-5, 5.09) on Saturday and juco transfer Dylan Lynn (4-0, 4.80) on Sunday.

Simmons has been the Redhawks' ace all season, but Smith was impressive in his first OVC start last weekend and Lynn has had stellar outings during his only two conference starts.

"It's taken a while, but I think we finally figured out our pitching staff, which had so many new guys," said Hogan, whose squad returned just three pitchers and no starting hurlers from a year ago. "I'm excited about the way everybody threw last weekend [against Tennessee-Martin]."

Southeast's 6.50 ERA still ranks eighth in the OVC but it has dropped dramatically in recent weeks. The Redhawks' ERA is 5.62 in conference play.

The Redhawks' are fifth in the league with a .284 batting average and third with 285 runs scored.