March 30, 2001

Southeast Missouri State Indians (17-8; 2-1 OVC)

vs.

Murray State Throughbreds (15-12-1; 2-4 OVC)

March 31 (DH) at Noon * April 1 at 1 p.m.

Murray, Ky. * Reagan Field

The Series: Murray State leads the all-time series, 24-21.

Last Time Out: Last year in Cape, the `Breds picked up 2-of-3 from the Indians. Southeast lost the first affair 5-4 and then went onto the win the nightcap, 4-1. In that win, Lanson Debrock notched his ninth win of the season. In game three, the Indians were out-matched 9-3, as Tommy Thomas recorded just his second loss.

Why The Throughbreds?: Prior to the 1950's, all Murray State athletic teams were known as the Throughbreds. The University soon found itself fighting newspapers from shortening the Throughbreds to `Breds, Race Horses and their favorite, Racers. As the rest of the athletic teams accepted the new nickname of Racers, baseball found it difficult to change. Johnny Reagan, the "Breds legendary coach, felt there was no sense in ordering new uniforms and equipment bags and the name has stuck ever since.

We Know You: Murray assistant coach Bart Osborne is no stranger to Southeast. From 1995-97, Coach Osborne was a member of the Southeast coaching staff. He was one of Coach Hogan original staff members.

We've Got You Beat on Paper: Southeast's league-leading team ERA of 3.34 easily beats out Murray's 5.14 team ERA.

The Skinny on Murray: The Throughbreds are led at the plate by DH Ronnie Seets with an average of .424. He is second only to Southeast's Clemente Bonilla. The team is third in the league with a .293 average. Leadoff hitter and LF Billy Moore his leading his team and the OVC with 32 runs. LHP Jesse Rhoades is leading the team with a record of 4-1, while RHP Aaron Russelburg has a team-best 3.12 ERA.

No Field of Dreams: Murray fielding has comitted 57 errors this season, which averages to 2.03 a game.

Go Yard: Southeast has hit twice as many homers as Murray this season, 16-8.

Hey Stranger: Murray's Garner Byars and Southeast's Matt Baldwin were teammates at Male High School in Louisville, Ky.

Hey Stranger, Part II: Southeast rookie LHP Jeremy King and Murray's Preston Hesley and Nathan Taylor are all from Paducah, Ky.

League Tested: Murray State and Southeast have both faced a number of the same non-conference foes, including Ole' Miss and Southern Illinois. The `Breds dropped a 10-0 decision in game one to Ole' Miss and then tied 5-5 in game two. MSU also picked up a 4-3 win over SIU in late February.

Same Story: Both Mark Hogan and MSU head coach Mike Thieke are coaching for their alma maters.

Same Story, Continued: Both Thieke and Hogan played for their school's all-time winningest coaches. Thieke was a pitcher under Johnny Reagan and Hogan was a pitcher and outfielder for Joe Uhls.

Same Story, Again: Thieke is a product of Century High School in Ullin, Ill. Century is in the same conference as Shawnee High School, which produced OVC Pitcher of the Week Todd Pennington.

Top-5 Southeast Notes No Person Should Be Without:

#1 -- First For Everything: This is Southeast's first OVC road trip.

#2 -- Trifecta: Southeast hurler Todd Pennington was named the OVC Pitcher of the Week after tossing 8.2 innings of shutout baseball against Lipscomb. He allowed just three hits and stuck out 10 batters. Pennington has now won the award the last three out of four weeks. This is the first week he has earned the honor outright.

#3 -- Double Duty: Even though Murray has played in three more games than Southeast this season, the Indians have still hit 10 more doubles than the `Breds (59-49)

#4 -- Double-Double: Southeast has hit a double in 21-consecutive games. The Indians are averaging 2.36 doubles per game.

And #5 -- Iron Man Rusts: SS Zach Borowiak missed his first game in an Indian uniform due to strep throat this past Wednesday vs. SLU. After banging out two hits vs. the Billikens on Tuesday, Borowiak was diagnosed with the throat ailment early Wednesday. He will be re-evaluated later this week.

Other Notes Receiving Votes:

Movin' On Up: Senior catcher Jeff Bourbon continues to climb up the Southeast all-time statistics boards. The following are a list of his standings:

Games: 184 5th * Needs 36 more games to take over No.1 spot held by Jeremy Johnson. Doubles: 52 2nd * Needs 16 more to take over No. 1 spot also held by Johnson. Hits: 185 3rd RBI: 125 5th Homers: 30 6th At Bats: 649 3rd

Southern Comfort: Catcher Jeff Bourbon's first four RBIs this season were off two-out hits.

Pour Another: Thirteen of Bourbon's 19 RBI have come with two outs.

Streaking 2: Bourbon has collected six-straight games with a hit.

Clean-up, Aisle 4: When Bourbon is in the clean-up spot, Southeast is 11-3.

No Match For the Southpaw: Bourbon is 9-for-16 this season against lefties.

Protecting the Turf: Southeast has dropped just two home contests this season.

Hatton the Hero: Vern Hatton has helped Southeast to a 13-3 mark when batting in the five-hole.

Hatton the Conquering Hero: Against William Woods, Hatton tied a school record with five hits in a game.

Seventh Heaven: The Indians score more runs -- 28 -- in the seventh inning than any other.

Streaking: Leadoff hitter Denver Stuckey is in the midst of a nine-game hitting streak.

Welcome Back: RHP Mike Robinson made his first start in two years today as he took the mound for the Indians. He ended with two hits, no runs charged, two walks and four strikeouts over three innings. Robinson was a victim of a shoulder injury and has been steadily making a comeback after being red-shirted last year at Chemeketa C.C. in Oregon.

Producing Under Pressure: Mark Frazier had a career-best outing in the nightcap win over Lipscomb in game two. He ended the game with a career-high 10 strikeouts, while allowing just four hits over seven innings. This was his second win of the season.

Snapped!: Zach Borowiak`s 18-game hitting streak was broken in game one against Lipscomb. The All-American short stop wasted no time starting a new one as he stroked a single in the first inning of game two.

Special K: Todd Pennington has notched 34 strikeouts in his last three appearances. He has tallied 44 total K's this season.

More Special K: Pennington has now tossed more strikeouts, 49, this season, than his two previous combined (44).

Put Him On The Mound: Southeast is 5-1 when Pennington starts.

Taking One For the Team: Vern Hatton has taken a team-high seven hit-by-pitches this season. He also leads with five stolen bases and three homers.

Leader of the Pack: Clemente Bonilla is currently in his fourth-consecutive week of leading the OVC with his .431 batting average.

Killer B's: Clemente Bonilla has a team-leading 12-multi hit games.

More on Zach: Borowiak leads the team with seven-multi RBI games.

Killer B's Spread: Borowiak, Bonilla and Bourbon have combined to hit 29 of the 56 team doubles this season.

More on Brad: Beatty has hit in the two-spot and from the 5-hole through nine. He is 4-for-10 when hitting out of the nine spot.

League Kudos: In the first week of conference awards, Zach Borowiak and Todd Pennington picked up Player and Pitcher of the Week honors respectively. Borowiak went 5-for-9 last week with four doubles, four RBI and two runs scored. Pennington gave up just one hit and no runs in the 7-0 win vs. Arkansas State.

League Kudos II: For the second-consecutive week, Todd Pennington picked up Co-OVC Pitcher of the Week honors. He earns the award after shuting-out Central Oklahoma over nine innings without issuing a run and whiffing 12 batters.

Senior Michael Mitchell Leaves: Catcher and DH Michael Mitchell has left the Southeast Missouri State baseball team. Mitchell started on game this season, while going 0-for-2 from the plate. Mitchell opted to the leave the team for personal reasons. Senior catcher Jeff Bourbon will now be backed by freshman Brad Beatty and rightfielder Tristen McDonald.

I Don't Know Is On Third, But We Want Borowiak at the Plate: With a runner on third and two outs, short stop Zach Borowiak is 12-for-16.

Pitching Prowess: With blankings against ASU, Harris Stowe and Central Oklahoma, Southeast pitching recorded 27-consecutive innings without allowing a run.

Still No Free Passes: Reliever Andy Davidson through five appearances has yet to yield a walk.

Fielding of Dreams: Senior Kenny Gaebler brings a perfect fielding average into this season's campaign. In 71 career games, Gaebler has yet to commit an error.

Two-Bagger: Bonilla, prior to this year had hit 20 doubles. He has hit 11 this season and now needs two more to jump on to the all-time list.

Walk-On: Bonilla needs just seven more walks this season to become the program's all-time walks leader with 118. Jeremy Johnson currently resides in the No. 1 spot.

Doing the Dishes: Short stop and All-American Zach Borowiak recorded 146 assists last season. The number ranks him fifth on Southeast's season assist list.

Take a Bow: Last year against Iowa State, Jeremy Johnson became the all-time hits champions with a single in game one of the doubleheader against the Cyclones. The fourth inning hit against Cyclone righty, Charley Bigwood, broke Kyle Yount's career total of 215. Johnson ended his career with 287 hits. Yount's mark of 215 was set just a year prior in 1999.

Bigwood, Big Problems: ISU righty Charly Bigwood would probably like to never pitch against Southeast again. In Southeast's opener he served up junior Tristen McDonald's first career hit, which equaled an RBI double.

"Spille"ing Over: Southeast's only other win over Mississippi was a 1-0 win back in 1999. All-American Ryan Spille picked up his second win of the season in the two-hitter.

The Whammy: Ole' Miss has been a part of just 45 1-0 games over its 100-year history. The Rebels are 22-25 in those games, including last weekend's 1-0 win over the Indians.

De-clawed: Before Southeast got ahold of Jackson State hitters, the Tigers were batting an impressive .321. Between Mark Frazier and reliever Andy Davidson, JSU went 9-for-35 from the plate.

Next Up: The Indians return to Capaha Field this Tuesday for its first official night game of the season. The game is set for 6 p.m.