May 15, 2001

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

About the Indians: Southeast Missouri State Baseball stepped up to the plate this season and hit a grand slam. A team that entered the season with a cloudy future, the Indians produced on of the finest season to date as they enter this weekend's Ohio Valley Tournament.

It was a bit surprising that the OVC coaches chose the Indians to finish second in the pre-season poll. Southeast had lost two of its starting pitchers and its most prolific players, Jeremy Johnson.

But the OVC coaches realized something very important, Southeast would return a healthy bullpen, one that finished first in the league an nationally ranked in the NCAA. The Indians also returned the conference's best defensive infields, including All-American short stop Zach Borowiak.

But, there were two things those coaches could have never known -- Todd Pennington's dominance on the mound and Clemente Bonilla's strong presence at the plate.

Both would anchor a team that handed Coach Mark Hogan his fourth season in seven years with 30-plus wins. They also gave Coach Hogan his 200th Southeast win and the program's sixth-consecutive trip to the post-season.

Pennington, who closed the regular season the way he opened it up, being named OVC Pitcher of the Week. So it was no huge surprise he was the lock for OVC Pitcher of the Year.

Bonilla continued his pileup of walks and reset his own Southeast single-season record of 53 that he established his rookie year. For 10 weeks he led the league in hitting and enters the tournament with a .388 average and the OVC Player of the Year ward to boot.

Southeast will look to break a two game skid as they open with Austin Peay in game two of the conference tourney.

Southeast In The OVC Tournament: The Indians are an even 12-12 in the OVC post-season. Southeast first trip to the OVC tourney came in 1992 -- also their initial year in the league.

The First Years: Southeast's first opponent in the OVC tourney 1992 was Austin Peay. The Indians beat the Govs in that game, 3-1. However, APSU served as avengers and they defeated the Indians to toss them from the tournament.

Southeast has faced former OVC foe Middle Tennessee the most during the post-season with eight game contested. The Blue Raiders own the series 2-8. The Indians are also 2-1 against Morehead, which finished seventh in the standings.

Aren't We Forgetting Someone??: Where's Murray State and Tennessee-Martin on that list? Well, the Indians have yet to face either of those teams?

The Austin Peay Series: Southeast will meet the Govs with a 24-14 all-time series advantage. The Indians swept APSU in a three-game set in Clarksville April 28-29.

Top-5 Southeast Notes No Person Should Be Without:
#1 -- Best In The Nation, Still: Make it three in a row. That's how many weeks Todd Pennington has claimed the nation's best ERA. After a brilliant one-hit, five scoreless inning performance at EIU, the righty whittled his ERA to 0.81.

#2 -- OVC Kudos: It's fitting that the OVC Pitcher of the Week close out the regular-season much like it opened. Pennington picked up his fifth OVC honor after his stellar performance last week. His Southeast record 12th victory will stand as the only blemish on Eastern Illinois's conference record. This was the third-consecutive week an Indian pitcher had won the award. Pennington was the first pitcher to receive a 2001 weekly honor.

#3 -- THE OVC Kudos: Clemente Bonilla and Todd Pennington ar the best player and pitcher in the OVC and the coaches and sport information directors felt the same way. Bonilla was selected Player of the Year, while Pennington earned Pitcher of the Year. The Indians also named four players to the first team and four to honorable mention. Bonilla and Penny were first teamers, along with Jeff Bourbon and Zach Borowiak. Vern Hatton, Brad Beatty, Jeffrey Hilz and Greg Lunski were honorable mention picks. The awards were announced on Tuesday evening at the OVC awards banquet.

#4 -- These Cleats Are Made For Walkin': Clemente Bonilla, with a walk in game one of the EIU game, reset his own Southeast single-season walks record. His old mark of 53 was established his rookie season in 1999. After last weekend he has 57. He needs just one more to tie the OVC record, which was set in 1974 by former Major Leaguer Jack Perconte of Murray State.

#5 -- Strikeout Kings Of The World and OVC: Two weeks ago Southeast reset its team strikeouts record as the staff toppled the old mark of 395. After last week's 32 K performance, the team as now broken the OVC's record with 432 strikeouts thus far. The old mark of 421was set in 1990 by Middle Tennessee.

And One More For Good Measure: Although the NCAA does not release weekly RPI's until the end of the season, one recognized organization does give weekly rankings. Southeast's stock has risen to one of its best ranking of the season at 75 of 282. The Indians have played seven other teams in the Top-100. Eastern Illinois, at 96, is the only other OVC team in the Top-100.