UT-MARTIN CALLS ON SOUTHEAST

It's back to the Ohio Valley Conference wars for Southeast Missouri State University's baseball Indians.

Southeast, with just six OVC games remaining in the regular season, finds itself facing a must-win situation when Tennessee-Martin comes to Capaha Field this weekend.

The teams will play a 4 p.m. doubleheader today, followed by a 1 p.m. single game Sunday.

Southeast finds itself somewhat backed into a corner because of last weekend's three-game sweep suffered at the hands of host Middle Tennessee State.

Entering that series, the Indians were tied for second place in the OVC and seriously contending for the championship.

But the three-game slide bounced them back into the standings and will likely force them to finish relatively strong simply to qualify for the OVC Tournament.

The top six finishers in the nine-team league qualify for the conference tourney, with the top two earning first-round byes.

Entering weekend play, Tennessee Tech leads the league at 14-7 while Middle Tennessee is right behind at 12-6.

Eastern Kentucky is third at 10-8 while Southeast, Eastern Illinois and Austin Peay are all tied for fourth at 9-9. Morehead State is also still in the hunt for a tournament berth at 7-11 while Murray State (8-13) and Tennessee-Martin (6-12) bring up the rear.

"This is a really crucial series for us, as is our last series (at Morehead State next weekend," said Southeast coach Mark Hogan. "Things are pretty scrambled up in the middle of the conference and we really have to finish up strong."

The Indians are 19-26 overall after splitting a pair of non-conference home games earlier in the week. Southeast beat Arkansas-Little Rock on Tuesday and lost to Missouri on Wednesday.

Tennessee-Martin's Skyhawks are 13-26 overall.

This weekend's series will mark the final home action for eight Southeast seniors, most of them key contributors for the Indians during their college careers.

The seniors are: LaMonte Collier, Mike Miller, Steve Goodman, Jeff Bebej, David Siboda, Troy Pehle, Jim Gerwitz and Todd Pehle.

Collier and Miller are the team's top two hitters while Goodman ranks fourth in batting average. Siboda and Troy Pehle are two of the squad's main pitchers.