Southeast Missouri State baseball team is picked fourth in preseason OVC poll

~ Defending OVC champion Austin Peay is picked to repeat

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team has been picked to finish fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference based on voting by the league's coaches that was announced Tuesday.

The coaches also tabbed Southeast All-American senior third baseman Trenton Moses to repeat as OVC player of the year.

Defending OVC regular-season and tournament champion Austin Peay is the preseason favorite to win the 10-team conference.

Austin Peay received seven of the 10 first-place votes and 79 total points. Jacksonville State received one first-place vote and 73 points for second, with Tennessee Tech garnering the remaining two first-place nods and 63 points for third.

Southeast (52) was followed by first-year OVC member SIU Edwardsville (48), Eastern Kentucky (45), Eastern Illinois (34), Tennessee-Martin (25), Murray State (21) and Morehead State (10).

Southeast lost 18 seniors and returns just 10 players from a squad that went 34-22 and finished second in the OVC at 14-8.

Southeast coach Mark Hogan enters his 18th season at his alma mater with a 503-420-1 record, including NCAA regional berths in 1998 and 2002.

Southeast tied for the third-most wins in program history last year and extended its conference record for consecutive OVC tournament appearances to 17, or every season that Hogan has coached the Redhawks.

Moses, an Advance High School graduate, earned All-American honors in 2011 and is a preseason All-American this year.

Moses batted .395 with 11 home runs, 14 doubles, a triple, 53 RBIs, 44 runs scored, a .672 slugging percentage and .502 on-base percentage a year ago.

Moses, a starter since his freshman season, ranked second in the OVC in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. He was fourth in home runs per game and RBIs per game. He was 14th nationally in on-base percentage.

Moses is the lone Southeast representative on the preseason all-OVC team. Jacksonville State closer Todd Hornsby, who set the OVC single-season record with 15 saves in 2011, is the league's preseason pitcher of the year.

Southeast opens the season Feb. 17 at 2011 NCAA Super Regional qualifier Dallas Baptist.