April 16, 2001

Southeast Missouri State Indians (25-13; 8-4 OVC)

vs.

Missouri Tigers (21-16-1; 8-13 Big 12)

April 17, 2001 * 6 p.m.

Columbia, Mo.

About the Indians: Dominant performances by Southeast Missouri State's 2B Clemente Bonilla and LHP Jeffrey Hilz last week earned the duo a sweep of the OVC's Player and Pitcher of the Week awards, respectively.

Bonilla batted .533 with a double, three homers, eight runs scored and seven RBIs in Southeast's five games last week. The junior second basemen, who also walked eight times, went 6-for-7 with three homers in a two-game series with Memphis and scored six times in a three-game series with Tennessee-Martin. Bonilla entered the week as the 44th-best batter in the nation with a .419 average. He is now hitting .435 and should rise on the leader boards, which will be released tomorrow.

Hilz posted a 2-0 record in three appearances last week, allowing just three hits and no runs over 9.2 innings of work. The left-hander struck out 15 and walked just one during the week. Hilz, who is now 5-1, gave up just one hit and stuck out seven over 4.2 innings in two relief stints vs. UTM and tossed five shutout innings to get the win at Memphis, striking out eight.

Southeast was 3-for-5 last week with appointments with Memphis and Tennessee-Martin. RHP Todd Pennington notched his third complete game and second shutout in game one against UTM. He allowed just three hits and struck out nine during the performance, which lowered his ERA to 1.07.

The India are currently in third place in the league standings. They are four games out of first. EIU swept Austin Peay to stay undefeated in the OVC. Tennesee Tech remained silent in its off week.

The Series: After a 7-2 loss earlier in the month, Missouri still owns the Indians. The Tigers are winners of the last 13 of 16 meetings. The series stands at 14-4 all-time. Two of Southeast wins came last season.

Nice Win: Tiger skipper Tim Jamieson's first game as a Missouri head coach was a 5-4 loss to Southeast Missouri to open the 1995 season.

Since the Last Time We Met: The two teams last met April 3. Since that time, Southeast has gone 6-4, while Missouri went just 2-5. All five of the Tigers losses came at the hands of Big 12 foes Oklahoma (3) and Texas (2).

Top-5 Southeast Notes No Person Should Be Without:

#1 -- Best In The Nation?: Todd Pennington will have to wait until Tuesday afternoon to see where he stands in the nation this week. The junior was third last week with his 1.21 ERA. He lowered that number to 1.07 after a seven-inning blanking of UTM. But, considering the nation's best hurler MTSU's Dewon Brazelton tossed a shutout as well and the country's runner-up Dyson Miguel of Iowa pitched four flawless innings, Pennington may remain in third. Brazelton and Miguel both sit with 0.96 ERAs.

#2 -- Prime Time Players: Clemente Bonilla and Jeffrey Hilz picked up their first OVC honors of the season. Bonilla batted .533 on the week enroute to eight hits, three of which were homers. Hilz notched two wins in three trys, as he struck out 15 batters and allowed no runs.

#3 -- Seven In A Row: Bonilla leads the conference with his .435 batting average for the seventh week in a row. He opened the season with the best average and has yet to relinquish the honor. He was 44th in the country last week with a .419 average.

#4 -- More Snaps: In game one against Tennessee-Martin, Southeast's consecutive doubles in a game was ended. The Indians has strung together 32 consecutive games with at least on double.

#5 -- Why No Rank?: Although it looks like reliever Jeffrey Hilz should be listed among the nations strikeouts per nine inning leaders, he does not have enough qualifying innings. To be listed, a pitcher must has as many innings pitched as games the the team has played. This week he is two innings short. He currently stands with 12.5 Ks per game.

And One More For Good Measure -- Southeast Stat Leaders:

Batting Average Bonilla (.435)

Hits Zach Borowiak (50)

Doubles Bonilla (16)

Triples Vern Hatton (3)

Homers Hatton & Bonilla (5)

Runs Scored Denver Stuckey (38)

RBI Jeff Bourbon (33)

Stolen Bases Stuckey (8)

ERA Todd Pennington (1.07)

Strikeouts Pennington (74)

Other Notes Receiving Votes:

Coach Hogan Turns 200: Not litteraly of course, but on Tuesday vs. Memphis, Hogan picked up his 200th victory as a Southeast coach.

Hop To It: LF Brian Hopkins collected hits in each of Southeast's five games last week. He now owns the team's longest hitting streak at five games.

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 15-for-20 (.750).

Multi-Tasked: Borowiak and Jeff Bourbon lead the team with nine-multi RBI games.

Killer B: Bonilla has a team-leading 16-multi hit games.

Killer B's Spread: Borowiak, Bonilla and Bourbon have combined to hit 42 of the 93 teams' doubles this season. First Free Passes: Reliever Andy Davidson through seven appearances yielded his first walk vs. Memphis. Streaking No More: Denver Stuckey's 16-game hitting streak was snapped on Sunday against EKU.

Walking Away With It: With a walk in the first inning against Missouri, Clemente Bonilla has become Southeast's all-time walks leader. He currently stands with 132 passes.

More Walk: Bonilla's walk count this season, 40, is currently third on Southeast's season leader boards. He eclipsed the old mark, which was 39 that he set last season. His walk totals have ranked on the Indians all-time season's list each of his three seasons.

Right Frame Of Mind: Right-handed batters are batting .147 (21-of-143) vs. Todd Pennington.

No Getting By Him: With runners on, Todd Pennington has allowed just 10-of-90 batters to reach base.

Special K: Pennington has now tossed more strikeouts, 74, this season, than his two previous combined (44).

Put Him On The Mound: Southeast is 7-2 when Pennington starts. We Perform Under Pressure: Southeast bats .645 as a team with runners on third and two outs.

Two-Bagger: Clemente Bonilla has jumped onto the all-time doubles list at Southeast. He now has 36 career two-baggers, which gives him control of sixth place.

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: 199 3rd * Needs three more games to take over 2nd.

Doubles: 57 2nd * Needs 9 more to take over No. 1 spot

Hits: 198 3rd

RBI: 139 t3rd * Currently tied with Darin Kinsolving. Homers: 312 6th

At Bats: 699 2nd.

Southern Comfort: Bourbon's first four RBIs this season were off two-out hits. Pour Another: Seventeen of Bourbon's 33 RBI have come with two outs. No Match For the Southpaw: Bourbon is 11-for-26 this season against lefties.

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

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.

Iron Man Rusts: Borowiak missed his first game in an Indian uniform due to strep throat this vs. SLU. After banging out two hits vs. the Billikens on a Tuesday, Borowiak was diagnosed with the throat ailment early Wednesday. He returned to the lineup at Murray.

Taking One For the Team: Vern Hatton has taken a team-high nine hit-by-pitches this season.

Doing It All: Hatton not only leads the team in the HBP category, but also sets the standard with homers (5) and triples (3).

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.

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

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.

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 Thursday to host interstate rival Southern Illinois on Wednesday, April 18