WANTED: A WEEKEND SWEE; SE NEEDS THREE WINS OVER EKU TO CAPTURE OVC TITLE

Southeast Missouri State University's baseball Indians know exactly what is at stake this weekend as they close out the regular season with a three-game home series against Eastern Kentucky.

Sweep the Colonels and Southeast has its first-ever Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship. Win two out of three and, no matter what Middle Tennessee does, the Indians will host the OVC Tournament for the third year in a row.

It figures to be quite an exciting weekend of baseball at Capaha Field as Southeast and EKU play a 2 p.m. doubleheader today and a 2 p.m. single game Sunday.

"It should be very exciting," said Southeast coach Mark Hogan. "We know we face a tremendous challenge this weekend, but we're in a position to control our own destiny and that's about all you can ask."

EKU leads the nine-team OVC with a 17-4 record while Southeast is in second place at 15-5. The Indians need to win all three games from the Colonels to capture the OVC regular-season title; just one victory by the Colonels gives them the crown.

But, even if the Indians fall short of the championship, they stand a very good chance of hosting the OVC Tournament that will be played next week.

Not every OVC team plays on a field with lights, so the highest regular-season finisher with lights will host the league tourney. EKU has no lights, so Southeast is battling third-place Middle Tennessee, which is 14-6 in conference play, for the host spot. The Raiders close the regular season with a three-game series at Eastern Illinois this weekend.

The Indians, by virtue of winning two of three games from the Raiders earlier this season, hold the tie-breaker over Middle Tennessee. The best the Raiders can finish in league play is 17-6, so two wins for the Indians this weekend definitely means that the OVC Tournament will be played in Cape Girardeau.

"We're in a pretty good situation for hosting the tournament, but winning the OVC (regular-season) championship would be really nice," Hogan said. "It's extremely difficult to sweep any ballclub, let alone a team as good as Eastern Kentucky.

"But our guys have risen to the challenge all year long and I know they don't feel like a sweep is out of the question."

EKU coach Jim Ward, like Hogan, believes it's only fitting that the OVC's top two teams in the standings will square off on the final weekend of the regular season to settle the championship.

"It is exciting and I guess it's the way it should be," Ward said. "It seems like in recent years, it always comes down to the last weekend. It's happened again, just as we expected, and we're just glad to be in it."

Ward acknowledged that his squad is in a solid position, having to win just one of three games to clinch the title. But he also realizes a team like Southeast is capable of pulling off the sweep.

"It's hard to sweep a team, but SEMO is in good shape regardless because it looks like they'll host," he said. "We're not taking anything for granted. We know we need to win a game. SEMO has had a great season. They lead the OVC in just about everything. We have a lot of respect for them."

While EKU leads the OVC standings, the Colonels' overall record of 28-23 is not quite up to Southeast's 33-14 mark that has been fashioned against a formidable non-conference schedule.

"We've really had a fantastic season so far," said Hogan, whose squad has set a record for the most single-season wins in school history. "It's a tribute to everybody in our program."

Southeast leads the OVC in team earned-run average (4.16), ranks second in team batting average (.318) and is tied with EKU for first in team fielding percentage (.964).

EKU is third in batting average (.304) and fourth in ERA (5.17).

"They've got an outstanding ballclub, with some tremendous hitters, some very good pitchers and they play excellent defense, like we do," Hogan said. "It should be quite a series and a real treat for the fans."

Both teams feature some of the OVC's top players.

For Southeast offensively, leading hitters are Jeremy Johnson (.416), Darin Kinsolving (.386), Kevin Meyer (.376) and Charlie Marino (.344).

Johnson leads the OVC with 18 home runs, just ahead of Marino's 17. Marino is first in the OVC with 61 runs batted in.

In the pitching department, ace reliever Jeffrey Hilz leads the OVC with a 1.98 ERA. He also has a 7-2 record and four saves.

Among this weekend's starters, Lanson Debrock (9-4, 3.12 ERA) is tied for the OVC lead in wins; Dan Huesgen (4-4, 3.44 ERA) joins Debrock in ranking high for earned-run average; and Tommy Thomas (6-2, 4.12 ERA) leads the league in strikeouts per nine innings at 12.1.

For EKU, top hitters are Adam Basil (.419, 47 RBIs), Aaron Williams (.355), Kiley Vaughn (.343), Jason Sharp (.319, 11 HR) and Lee Chapman (.307, 12 HR, 58 RBIs).

The Colonels' top starters are Scott Santa (6-3, 3.82 ERA) and Corey Eagle (8-5, 5.18 ERA).