Southeast Missouri State makes OVC baseball tournament debut today vs. Eastern Illinois

From Day 1 of the season, Southeast Missouri State baseball players and coaches have said they were focused on taking one game at a time, and no matter who their opponent may be, they approach every game with the same mentality.

Other teams make similar statements, but the Southeast baseball team has shown it's been able to execute the plan. The Redhawks have given no reason to believe they will not continue to adhere to the philosophy today when they begin play in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

"We're going to go into every game knowing that we have a good chance of winning it, and we're just going to play like any other game we have all season," Southeast first baseman and OVC Player of the Year Matt Tellor said.

If the OVC regular-season champion Redhawks do that, they will stand a good chance of winning the tournament for the third time in school history.

Top-seeded Southeast, which received a first-round bye, didn't know the opponent it would play until after the first round of tournament games were played Wednesday, but Southeast coach and OVC Coach of the Year Steve Bieser was confident his team would be well-prepared for whatever team they faced because they'd already played, and won at least once, against each of the teams.

The Redhawks (36-18, 23-7 OVC) will face No. 6 Eastern Illinois at 7 p.m. today at The Ballpark in Jackson, Tennessee.

"We're never worried about who we're playing because we know for a fact that if we go play our game and execute our game plan and stick to our approach that we're not going to have any trouble," left fielder and first-team all-OVC selection Derek Gibson said. "We're just extremely confident in what we have right now, and we're playing really well. We're one win away from tying our school record [with 37 wins] and are extremely focused, and we're here to get a job done."

The Panthers defeated No. 3 Jacksonville State 2-1 Wednesday night.

Southeast took two of three games against EIU during the regular season.

The Redhawks will send Alex Winkelman, who picked up the win in the first meeting with the Panthers on April 17, to the mound for today's game.

OVC Co-Pitcher of the Year Travis Hayes will get the start in Friday's game.

The Redhawks could win the tournament and advance to regional play as quickly as going 3-0 in the double-elimination tournament.

"Last year we came into the tournament and knew we were going to have to outslug the other team and we didn't really know what we were going to get on the mound each game," Bieser said. "We've got a good idea of what's going to happen on the mound each game in this tournament, and that's an advantage for us because we do feel like we can slug with any team in the tournament. The good thing is now we can shut the other team down as well."

The Redhawks enter the tournament as the team to beat. They had at least a share of first-place in the standings the entire season, only lost one conference series all season -- to Morehead State -- and were one win short of tying the conference's single-season wins record, which was set by Tennessee Tech last season.

"I think as the underdog it's easy to play," Bieser said. "You come in relaxed and you have that mindset of, 'Well, whatever happens, we have nothing to lose here.' But for us it's been this way all year long. The pressure's built up each and every week.

"When people start expecting things, there becomes more pressure, and for me there's nothing better than that. I like being the team that's sitting on top, the team that everybody's gunning for because true competitors, you know, the best is going to come out of them whenever they get that opportunity.

"Knowing that people respect you as a team is a lot better than the way we kind of tip-toed into the tournament last year; nobody was concerned about us. To me, having that respect from the other clubs and knowing that if we go out and play our best game, then we're going to come out on top. That's something that these guys have been excellent at -- preparing for every game that we go out. They're focused and they're locked in on winning that game. They're not looking behind them, they're not looking ahead, they're just staying focused on the task at hand, and that's what's been so special about this group."

If the Redhawks win today they will face the winner between No. 2 Tennessee Tech and No. 5 Morehead State at 7 p.m. Friday.

"You know that everybody's going to give you their best games like they have all year because we've pretty much been on top the whole season and that doesn't change now," Hayes said. "I think everyone's confident because we know that we can play well against anybody that we match up against the rest of the weekend. Everybody's really happy we got that one-seed because it's what we strove for all year, and I think it puts us in the best position to go out and get the title that we've been aiming for."