SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE ROUNDUP: Pair of baseball players earn weekly OVC honors

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team had a pair of players snag Ohio Valley Conference weekly honors.

Senior Hunter Leeper was named OVC Co-Player of the Week while senior Jacob Lawrence was tabbed the OVC's Pitcher of the Week on Monday.

Leeper batted .400 with eight RBIs as the Redhawks went 4-1 last week. He had three hits and three RBIs in Southeast's 7-2 victory over Missouri on Tuesday and hit a double and scored twice in the Redhawks' Game 2 loss to the Tigers on Wednesday.

The third baseman, who is the first OVC Player of the Week for the Redhawks and shares the honor with Jacksonville State's Josh Bobo, hit a pair of two-run home runs in Southeast's 4-1 series-opening win against Morehead State on Friday and drove in a run with a double in a win on Saturday. He recorded a hit in each of the five games last week and has reached base safely in each of the last 15 games.

Lawrence picked up the win on the mound against Missouri on Tuesday. He allowed just one run in eight innings of work. The right-handed pitcher gave up six hits, walked only three and struck out a career-high 11 batters. Lawrence was last named OVC Pitcher of the Week a year ago after defeating Missouri.

He's the third Southeast pitcher to earn Pitcher of the Week, as the Redhawks have now had a pitcher earn recognition four times in the first five weeks of the season.

Southeast, which swept Morehead State to improve to 13-8 and 6-0 in the OVC, hosts Harris-Stowe at 5 p.m. tonight at Capaha Field, with Lawrence getting the midweek start.

Gymnasts at regionals

The Southeast Missouri State gymnastics team will be represented by a trio of Redhawks at the NCAA Regional in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Sophomore Alexis Brawner and junior Lauren Israel each qualified to compete in the all-around competition and freshman McKinzie Jones qualified on the floor exercise. The trio will compete at the regional on April 2 with the chance to earn a spot at the NCAA National Championships.

"This is very exciting for our program and university," Southeast coach Kristi Ewasko said in a press release. "Southeast will be represented by three very talented student-athletes on the big stage. NCAA Regionals are where the hard work of preseason and struggles of regular season come to fruition for these gymnasts.."

Brawner, who was selected the Midwest Independent Conference Athlete of the Year on Friday, competed in all 13 meets and won 17 event titles during the regular-season.

Her regional qualifying score of 38.945 in the All-Around was the best in the conference along with her 9.820 RQS on vault.

She scored 9.700 or higher 39 times this season with season high sou 9.875 on vault, 9.825 on bars, 9.725 on balance beam and 9.875 on floor.

"Alexis has been ranked with the best all-arounders of the region the entire season," Ewasko said. "She now has the opportunity to give it everything she's got to make it to the next level."

Israel advanced to regionals with an RQS of 38.780 in the all-around. She scored 9.700 or higher 26 times during her third and final season at Southeast. She won eight event titles in her career, seven of which came this past year.

"Lauren has pushed through an injury all season long, competing on events we never thought would be possible for her," Ewasko said. "She finishes her final season as one of our top all-arounders."

Jones, a walk-on, won event titles eight times during her freshman campaign and scored 9.700 or higher 22 times. She was a first-team All-MIC performer on floor, winning the title with a 9.925.

She earned the regional berth with an RQS of 9.855.

"McKinzie has really shined as a freshman," Ewasko said. "She has continued to improve this season, and I am so proud of her effort and commitment."