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SportsMay 4, 1998

Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team lost two out of three games to Morehead State over the weekend -- but the Indians couldn't be any happier. The reason was simple. By beating the Eagles 6-1 Sunday afternoon in the completion of Saturday's rain-suspended contest, the Indians wrapped up second place in the Ohio Valley Conference and thus earned the right to host the OVC Tournament that will be played Thursday through Saturday...

Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team lost two out of three games to Morehead State over the weekend -- but the Indians couldn't be any happier.

The reason was simple. By beating the Eagles 6-1 Sunday afternoon in the completion of Saturday's rain-suspended contest, the Indians wrapped up second place in the Ohio Valley Conference and thus earned the right to host the OVC Tournament that will be played Thursday through Saturday.

That the Indians went on to lose to the Eagles 4-3 in Sunday's regularly-scheduled contest at Capaha Field mattered little. Nor did the 2-1 loss Southeast suffered Saturday during the first game of a scheduled doubleheader.

"You don't ever want to lose a game," said Southeast coach Mark Hogan. "But this feels so good. To host the tournament is unbelievable. To win a game like that, on the last day of the season, under all that pressure, is just great."

Southeast concluded the regular season with a 27-22 overall record and a 15-9 OVC record that was good for second place in the nine-team league.

Regular-season OVC champion Eastern Illinois is not eligible to host the conference tournament because the Panthers' field has no lights.

The top six teams in the OVC will come to Cape Girardeau for the tournament that will feature four games Thursday. Southeast and Eastern Illinois both have first-round byes. The Indians will play at 8:30 p.m. Thursday against either Morehead State or Tennessee Tech, who play earlier in the day.

"It's going to be great for our program to host the tournament," said Hogan, in his fourth season as the Indians' coach. "This is our fourth straight appearance in the tournament, and what's even more important than hosting is getting a bye by finishing either first or second. That's huge."

It probably was only fitting that Ryan Spille pitch the game that clinched hosting the tourney.

Spille, a junior lefthander, has been the premier hurler in the OVC all season. He improved to 9-1 and lowered his earned-run average to 1.96 with a four-hitter that featured nine strikeouts and three walks. The only run he allowed was not earned.

"What can you say about Ryan. He's just been phenomenal this year," Hogan said. "If he's not the OVC Pitcher of the Year then nobody is."

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Spille hurled the first three innings of Saturday's second game before rain halted the contest. At the time, the Indians led 2-0.

But having to come back and pitch again Sunday seemed to have no ill effects on the junior-college transfer.

"I was a little sore from yesterday, but I felt good," he said. "I had to pitch a game like this once before, in junior college. We got rained out and I came back the next day."

But that previous experience with a suspended game did not go nearly as well as this one.

"I got bombed," said Spille with a laugh. "This was a lot better."

Charlie Marino's 18th home run of the season that came in the bottom of the third inning Saturday had helped stake the Indians to a 2-0 lead. When play resumed Sunday, Southeast quickly got two more runs in the third to give Spille plenty of cushion.

"I was very proud the way we came out today," Hogan said. "I told them one of the keys would be to strike early and that's what we did."

Marino, Steve Lowe and Phil Warren both had two of Southeast's eight hits, with Marino and Warren each driving in two runs.

The Indians were limited to three hits in a Sunday second game that resembled something of a spring training contest. Morehead's win Saturday had clinched an OVC tourney spot for the Eagles so they, like the Indians, really had nothing to gain in Sunday's finale.

That's why both teams used plenty of players and a host of pitchers. Warren's third homer of the season and Darin Kinsolving's two-run double were the offensive highlights for the Indians.

"We're disappointing to lose (the last game), but it didn't really mean anything," said Marino, who is just two home runs away from tying Southeast's single-season record. "Getting to host the tournament is big. That's what we've been shooting for."

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