Tournament opens Otahks' home schedule

Southeast Missouri State University's softball team opens its home schedule today when the Otahkians host the three-day Southeast Softball Classic featuring six squads.

The Otahkians (1-3) will compete against Drake (11-4), Lipscomb (9-3), Middle Tennessee (6-5), Southwest Missouri (5-6) and Siena (0-0). All games will be at the Southeast Softball Complex.

Today's schedule features just one game when Southeast plays Siena at 2:30 p.m.

There will be eight games Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m., with the final contests scheduled for 4 p.m. Southeast plays twice, facing Middle Tennessee at noon and Drake at 2 p.m.

Sunday's schedule includes six games, beginning at 10 a.m., with the last contests scheduled for 2 p.m. The Otahkians again play twice against Southwest Missouri at 10 a.m. and Lipscomb at 2 p.m.

"It's going to be nice to play at home for the first time this season," Southeast coach Lana Richmond said. "We've got excellent teams coming in, and it should be a good event."

Southeast's only win so far came against Lipscomb when the squads split a Tuesday doubleheader in Nashville, Tenn. The Otahkians won the opener 6-0 and lost the second game 6-5.

Wednesday at Evansville, the Otahkians dropped a doubleheader 3-1 and 6-0.

Baseball hits the road for series at Southern Miss.

Southeast's baseball team has played its first seven games on the road, and the Indians have three more contests away from home scheduled for this weekend against Southern Mississippi.

The three-game series opens at 6:30 p.m. today, followed by a 2 p.m. game Saturday and a 1 p.m. contest Sunday.

Southeast is off to a 2-5 start. The Indians dropped two of three games at both Alabama and Memphis before losing at Arkansas State 7-3 Tuesday. The series at Memphis was scheduled to be played in Cape Girardeau but was moved because of bad weather.

Southern Mississippi (9-3) is ranked 35th by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and received votes in the latest ESPN poll.

The Indians hit just .233 as a team, led by Auburn transfer Justin Christian at .320. Christian also leads Southeast in home runs with two.

Tim Alvarez has accounted for both Southeast pitching victories and has a 1.64 earned-run average, although the Indians' staff ERA is a whopping 8.00.

Southern Mississippi, batting .303 as a team, is led by Clint King at .413.

Following this weekend's series, the Indians are scheduled to play their first home game Monday when Middle Tennessee visits Capaha Field at 2 p.m. That will be the first of nine straight scheduled Southeast home contests.

-- From staff reports