April 20, 2001

He may be soft-spoken, but the way he delivers the ball off the mound is anything but. Southeast Missouri State right-handed pitcher Todd Pennington has taken the league -- and his team and coaches -- by storm this season.

The junior is currently third in the nation and started the week with a wispy ERA of 1.07. After a no-run, nine strikeout, six-inning performance against regional rival Southern Illinois, Pennington whittled that number down to 0.97.

What makes Pennington so special from any other pitcher in the nation or for that matter any Southeast pitcher? It can be explained in Pennington's journey.

He grew up just across the Mississippi River and Cape Girardeau in tiny McClure, Illinois. He played ball all his life, starting with the town's local Khourey League. As his talent grew, so did his success. A 1998 graduate of Shawnee High School he led his team to twin SEC titles (South Egyptian Conference) in '97 and '98 and a pair of regional championships in 1995 and 1998. He was twice named first team All-SEC and All-South and earned his conference's Player of the Year his last two seasons.

Pennington's prep career was capped off his senior season after being named the Southern Illinoisan Player of the Year, as he concluded his career as Shawnee's all-time wins leader and strikeout king.

Again, what makes him all that special? Most pitchers in collegiate baseball can boast those same things. What makes Todd so interesting is that he became the first-ever Shawnee High School product to earn a full Division I athletic scholarship.

SHS is a small rural high school in southern Illinois. The entire school comprises of around 250 kids, which includes junior and senior high students. A handful of athletes have gone on to play at the junior college level and even college level, but Todd was the first to ever go straight to Division I.

He's not the only SHS performer to play for Southeast, in fact. In 1994, Richie Phillips pitched one season for the Indians.

Sports at Shawnee are limited to just fall and spring baseball and softball and boys and girls basketball. It's those sports that kids have the limited opportunities to shine. Graduating classes at Shawnee are composed of only 30-40 kids and usually a fourth of those kids will choose to continue their education.

Todd, himself, sees all of that as nothing special. "Small schools can have just as much talent as the big schools," concluded Pennington, "they just don't get all the attention."

Pennington, who for the past two season with the Indians, had been comfortable in his limited role as a reliever. But this season, he found himself in the role of starter. At first, Indian coach Mark Hogan tagged him as the team's No. 3. The coaching staff was very pleased with Pennington's development over the summer, which included a much better command of his pitches.

Todd gives credit for the majority of his advancement to Indian pitching coach Jeremy Tyson.

Tyson, who started at Southeast two years ago, is no stranger to pitching success. He was a member of Louisiana State's national championship teams in 1996 and 1997. During his first year at LSU, Tyson finished second on the team in innings pitched and strikeouts, while notching a record of 9-3.

"Coach Tyson teaches that pitching is 90% mental," explains Pennington of his pitching coach's instruction. "He taught us that our talent gets you only so far, but to put the ball over the plate and in the strike zone, you must be in the right frame of mind."

Southeast has had a strong tradition of excellent pitching staffs. Tyson inherited a very talented squad, which featured All-American Ryan Spille. His system was simple, it's all based on trust.

"For the system to work, they have to trust me, total unconditional trust," explained Tyson. "From day one we went right to work, it wasn't a compromise."

Tyson learned from one of the best coaches in the country, legendary LSU head coach Skip Bertman. Bertman was a third-string catcher at Miami (Fla.) during his collegiate days, but he learned the skills it takes to produce a quality pitcher. Tyson said he was relentless in his teaching and required his pitchers to use his system of pitching.

Tyson is humble about the achievements his staffs have brought the Southeast program the last two seasons. Last year, Southeast led the OVC with a 4.17 ERA and finished second with

395 strikeouts. It also produced 2000 OVC Rookie of the Year southpaw Jeffrey Hilz and Tommy Thomas, who finished 12th in the country in strikeouts.

Even with all those accomplishments and this year's league-best 3.66 ERA, Tyson credits it all to the system. "I by know means take credit for Todd's success," he said, "my job is to help them exploit a batter's weaknesses."

At the beginning of the school year, the staff met to discuss the team's top-five pitching prospects. The pitching staff was returning one true starter in the person of Thomas and the rest of the squad were transfers or relievers.

"We began to talk about our possible rotation for the upcoming season," recalled Tyson of that meeting, "and Penny's name was mentioned. I wasn't shocked that were discussing about him in terms of a starter, but I new he had mechanical issues and he had yet to grasp an exact placement of his pitches."

Pennington, who mostly throws a fastball averaging in the high 80's to low 90's has added a great change-up explained Tyson. He said that with the additional pitch Todd could keep the batters guessing.

Tyson also remarked how Todd was able to overcome a mechanics problem as well. "His right hip was lagging behind during his wind-up and it was causing his not to gain full momentum. That in turned caused the ball to get to the plate a couple of miles slower."

Todd says Coach Tyson's system and instruction has allowed him to regain control of the strike zone. "That was my problem for the past two years, I couldn't locate the zone. I had little command. I would throw the ball and thought I controlled it with my arm, but Coach Tyson shows us for true command you must control the ball with your mind."

And it's worked. Pennington, who threw just 39 K's over 41.2 innings his first two seasons, has doubled that amount in 2001 to 83 strikeouts over 65 innings thus far. His strikeout count this season is currently sixth on Southeast's season leader board.

The season started out for Todd fairly slow for the junior. He earned his first win three starts and two and half weeks into the season against Arkansas State, a game in which he tossed six innings of scoreless baseball. He has also been named OVC Pitcher of the Week three of the last seven weeks. After those first couple of starts, which featured high pitch counts, Pennington found his control and began lowering his ERA and upping his strikeout totals. He entered the week ranked 16th in the country with 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings. That number is aided by the fact he has tossed double-digits in strikeouts three of his last four outings.

For those who know Pennington, they will tell you he's modest, soft-spoken and an all-around great guy. He's extremely humbled by all of his accomplishments so far this season. "I've surprised myself. I just simply have learned how to get the batter out by throwing strikes," he said.

The future could hold the prospect of professional baseball, but Todd has a good perspective on things. "For me to go pro right now would take a perfect situation," said Pennington on the chance of him turning pro after this season. "I can't really explain that, and I don't really mean money or the right team, but school is really important to me and I look forward to graduating."

He is set to graduate with a degree in general studies next spring. Pennington said that it was a gift for someone to give him the chance to play a sport he loves, plus pay for college.

Either side on which Pennington lands, those around him will be lucky for picking him up.

By: Jennifer Enke, Southeast Missouri State Assistant Sports Information Director and 1994 graduate of Shawnee High School.