'WEAK' MVC TEAM TEES OFF ON SEMO

Northern Iowa may prove to be fodder for its Missouri Valley Conference mates, but the Panthers' robust offense flowered Sunday against the best Southeast Missouri State University had to offer.

Northern Iowa, pegged by league coaches to finish in the MVC's cellar, swept Southeast in a three-game set over the weekend, racking up at least 10 runs in each game.

After a 13-12 victory Saturday, the Panthers polished Southeast off with wins of 12-9 and 10-3 before 215 at Capaha Park.

Southeast slid to 2-6 as Northern Iowa surged to 5-0.

Asked what the Indians need to rectify to steer on course, Southeast coach Mark Hogan said, "The best way to do that is to get Northern Iowa back up to Iowa. They were red hot this weekend."

Even when facing Southeast's prime pitchers.

In the opener, the Panthers touched Indians' ace Ryan Spille for five runs in seven innings, although Spille had exited before Northern Iowa's decisive seven-run eighth.

And in the nightcap, No. 2 starter Dan Huesgen permitted seven earned runs in his 5 1/3 innings. Again a seven-run frame, this one in the sixth, put the Indians away.

Though the 2-6 start isn't what Southeast, which returned 20 of 21 letterwinners from last season's Ohio Valley Conference champion team, envisioned, Hogan said his Indians haven't yet struck the panic button.

"It's not an eight-game schedule; it's a 56-game schedule," Hogan said. "Ironically, we were 2-6 last year out of the chute. This ballclub is not going to panic. Our guys have played enough ball that they know why things are happening the way they are."

The diagnosis: a two-day, acute inability to retire opposing batters.

"They (Northern Iowa) battered the ball all over the place," Hogan said. "We had trouble particularly with finding a place to pitch some of their hitters where they were vulnerable."

Southeast led 9-5 in the opener heading into the eighth behind Jeremy Johnson's two-run homer and Darin Kinsolving's solo blast, both in the fifth.

But Indians' relievers Danny Schiltz, Daniel Rodriguez and Todd Pennigton failed to maintain Southeast's edge in the eighth. After Schiltz forced in a run with a walk, Rodriguez came on and did the same twice over.

Northern Iowa second baseman Ben Fjelland, who victimized Southeast in a 10-for-15 weekend, had an RBI single, and a Pennington wild pitch and a Kyle Yount error also accounted for Panthers runs.

The teams' offenses appeared to have tempered in the second game, as the score was tied 3-3 after five innings. Southeast got two runs in the first on another Johnson home run and one in the fourth on Kevin Meyer's sacrifice.

But Northern Iowa struck with another big inning, the seven-run sixth. And Fjelland also loomed large again, this time with a three-run double. After five solid innings, Huesgen was knocked out.

"They hit our best pitching, and did it continually throughout the weekend," Hogan said. "But we also had some great performances. Jeremy (Johnson) and Kevin Meyer and Clemente Bonilla had a good weekend offensively for us."

Johnson went 2-for-4 in both games, with three RBIs in the opener and two in the nightcap. Meyer was 4-for-7 in the two games and Bonilla was 3-for-8.

Southeast hosts Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Tuesday at Capaha Park.