Southeast Missouri State baseball team looks to win second straight OVC series

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team has battled back to .500 in Ohio Valley Conference play, the same as its overall record.

This weekend the Redhawks will try to climb above those marks when they visit Morehead State for a three-game series that starts today at 2 p.m.

Southeast is 11-11 overall and 3-3 in the league after the Redhawks won two of three at home last weekend against defending OVC co-champion Eastern Kentucky. They lost two of three during their OVC-opening series at Belmont.

MSU is 7-14 overall and 2-4 in the OVC. The Eagles opened conference play by winning two of three against Murray State before being swept last weekend at Tennessee Tech.

"Our goal is to win every conference series," said first-year Southeast interim coach Steve Bieser, whose squad is tied for sixth place in the 11-team OVC while MSU is tied for eighth. "We had a good series last weekend, and we've been very competitive in every game."

The Eagles, who have suffered five straight losses, have not yet played a home game this season because heavy rain has flooded their field. They have had 11 road games and 10 neutral-site contests, including their OVC series against Murray State that was played in Mason, Ohio, near Cincinnati.

"They've been scuffling a little bit here lately, but playing two games at Clemson in a mid-week series is tough," said Bieser about the Eagles' suffering road losses to the Atlantic Coast Conference program Tuesday and Wednesday. "Just from last year, they were a scrappy team. I expect the same from them."

MSU is coming off one of its better seasons in a while. The Eagles went 28-27 overall and tied for fifth in the OVC at 13-14 to earn their first conference tournament berth since 2009.

But MSU was hit hard by graduation, like Southeast. The Eagles were picked ninth among 11 squads in the OVC preseason poll, just behind the eighth-place Redhawks.

"They've had some of the same type issues we've had, as far as keeping guys healthy, and they also graduated a lot of players like we did," Bieser said. "I'm sure they'll be very competitive. Everybody in the OVC is."