Southeast Missouri State baseball team voted preseason favorites

The defending Ohio Valley Conference regular-season champion Southeast Missouri State baseball team was voted as the favorite to win the title this season in the preseason poll.

The Redhawks, who were 23-7 in conference last year, received 12 of the 22 first-place votes and 187 points in the poll, which is voted on by the league's coaches and sports information directors.

Senior pitcher Travis Hayes was selected to the preseason all-conference team.

Hayes was 8-2 and posted a 3.23 ERA en route to being named the OVC's Co-Pitcher of the Year as a junior.

Defending OVC tournament champion Jacksonville State tallied seven first-place votes and 171 points for second, and Tennessee Tech had the remaining three first-place votes and 160 points for third.

Austin Peay was fourth with 149 points, Morehead State was third with 134, SIU Edwardsville was sixth with 92 and Eastern Illinois was seventh with 91.

Belmont (87 points), Eastern Kentucky (59), Murray State (56) and UT Martin (24) rounded out the final four spots in the 11-team field.

TTU shortstop Dylan Bosheers was named the preseason Player of the Year and Murray State's Brock Downey, who shared Pitcher of the Year honors with Hayes last season, was named the preseason Pitcher of the Year.

The Redhawks open the season with a four-game series against Bowling Green at Capaha Park next weekend. First pitch in Game 1 is set for 3 p.m. Friday.

Gymnastics

The Southeast Missouri State gymnastics team topped Midwest Independent Conference foe Illinois State on Friday night in Normal, Illinois.

The Redhawks finished with a total of 192.625 as sophomores Alyssa Tucker and Ashley Thomas finished one-two in the all-around competition.

The ISU Redbirds posted a season-high score of 191.575 at the meet.

Tucker scored a 38.700 on the night, which included a second-place finish in the floor exercise with a 9.750. Danci Cha won the event for the Redbirds with a 9.825.

Thomas's 38.375 in the all-around was good for second. She won the vault title with a meet-high 9.850 and was second on the balance beam, tying a career-high at 9.800.

Southeast posted its second-best beam score of the season with a 48.200.

ISU's Amanda Mohler's 9.825 on the beam was good for first. Mohler also won the uneven bars competition with a 9.850.

Redhawks freshman McKenna Stanley scored a season-high on the uneven bars with a 9.775, and sophomore Alexandria Stokes tied her career high from last season of 9.750.

Southeast will compete against Arkansas and ISU on Friday in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Track & Field

The Southeast men's and women's track and field teams each finished third in the team standings at the Saluki Invitational this weekend in Carbondale, Illinois.

Chris Navarro had 4,903 points to easily win the heptathlon. Navarro finished first in the 60-meter dash (7.24 seconds), shot put (40 feet, 10 1/4 inches), high jump (6-0), 60-meter hurdles (8.17 seconds) and pole vault (14-0).

In the men's triple jump, Chris Martin's 52-1 3/4 that was good enough for a first-place finish and 11th in the nation.

Abi Sowash won the women's high jump (5-3), and Blake Smith claimed a first-place finish in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.68 seconds.

Mary Dohogne won the women's mile with a time of 4:58.80, and Kevin Farley finished third in the men's shot put with a throw of 56-10 3/4.

Junior Taylor Coffelt won the women's pentathlon by 16 points, finishing with 3,374. She won the 60-meter hurdles in 9.08 seconds and the shot put with a throw of 38-5 1/2 inches. She was second in the 800m in 2:35 and finished third and fifth in the high jump and long jump, respectively, with jumps of 4-11 3/4 and 16-5 3/4.

Junio Kayla Gutierrez and senior Farley claimed third place in their respective weight throw competitions. Gutierrez was third on the women's side with a throw of 59-8 1/4 and Farley was third in the men's with a distance of 65-2.

Junior Jacob Kent was third in the long jump with 22-11 3/4.

Southern Illinois and Austin Peay finished ahead of Southeast on the men's side, while Southern Illinois and Central Arkansas led the standings on the women's side.

Southeast will travel next weekend to Bloomington, Indiana, to compete in the Hoosier Hill Invite.

Tennis

The Southeast tennis team remains winless on the season, dropping their fourth straight this weekend on the road.

The Redhawks lost 6-1 to Arkansas State on Friday in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and 7-0 to Central Arkansas on Saturday in Conway, Arkansas.

Melissa Martin won the No. 6 singles match for Southeast's lone point on Friday.

The senior claimed a 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 decision against Sofia Krsmanovic, while Arkansas State defeated Southeast in straight sets in the five other singles matches.

The Red Wolves secured the doubles point after winning the No. 2 and 3 matches. Mariya Kostyuk and Viviana Ortiz won 6-3 at the No. 1 spot.

Southeast faces host Saint Louis on Tuesday.