It was a season that head coach Mark Hogan won't easily, if ever, forget. A season that saw tragedy before it even started after the passing of a player in a car accident. But all-in-all, it was a season that saw the team tie the school record for wins, and win its first ever NCAA Regional game with a 7-4 victory against Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

The season started with critics questioning the schedule coach Hogan had drawn up. It included early-season trips to national power houses Oklahoma and Wichita State, as well as later season trips to Oklahoma State and Arkansas. Hogan stated all along, the games would not hinder the team, but instead make them tougher and ready for post season play, something he thought he hadn't accomplished in 1998, the other year Southeast made it to a regional.

The Tribe started the season with a trip to Norman, Oklahoma to take on the Sooners of Oklahoma. After losing the first game in a close, 10-inning affair, the Indians dropped the next two games by large margins and came home to get ready for the Shockers of Wichita State. Southeast, again, kept it close with WSU as they lost both games, but by margins of five and one run. The Tribe was at 0-5 and on its worst start since 1994.

After having its home opening series rained out against Northern Iowa, the Indians went to Jonesboro, Arkansas to taken on Arkansas State. In what was probably the turning point of the season the Tribe tied the game in the top of the ninth on a suicide squeeze bunt by junior catcher Tristen McDonald, scoring junior outfielder Brian Hopkins. Hopkins would later come through in the tenth as he singled home scoring junior shortstop Zach Borowiak.

The Tribe next traveled to Memphis to take on the Tigers at beautiful Auto Zone Park. Southeast lost the first game of the three game series, but rebounded to take the next two by scores of 7-4 and 11-3. The game also saw a first as Borowiak hit his first career grand slam over the left field fence in to the greenery.

From that point on, the Tribe won 31 of its last 45 games including 26 of the last 33 to end the season. They finished up the regular season with a 29-18 overall record and a 16-5 record in the OVC. They won every series in the conference season including a sweep of Austin Peay and Tennessee-Martin. They won the OVC Tournament for the second time ever, and made the first time the team had won both the regular season and tournament championships.

The season was full of highs. Among them was the senior seasons of pitchers Brad Purcell and Brandon Smith, along with those of Vern Hatton and Clemente Bonilla. Bonilla made his name amazingly prominent in the record books at Southeast. He put his name at third or higher on eight different offensive and defensive categories.

After leading the nation in walks with 61 his junior season, he followed up that campaign with 54 this season. Both marks were one and two all time on the season total mark and he is the all time leader in career walks with 207. His mark of 61 in a season was also the highest-ever by a player in the OVC. Bonilla also could do it in the field as he became the all time leader in assists with 462. He moved up to third all time in career at bats with 686, and second all time with 233 hits. His career doubles mark of 59 ranks third and his 172 runs scored ranks him second all time. He also moved up to third all time in games played with 203.

It was safe to say Bonilla had one of the best-ever seasons in a Southeast uniform, but it didn't start off very smooth. Going into a series on April 6 at Eastern Kentucky, Bonilla was batting just .206. From that point on, he batted .442 on the rest of the season, the best mark on the team, while slugging out 15 doubles and 33 RBI's. The 33 RBI's were the second-highest mark on the team during that period.

Center fielder Vern Hatton had a season to remember at Capaha this Spring. The Chicago native came into the season after batting .298 last season only to bat .369 this season to lead the Tribe. He was the team leader in eight different offensive categories including average, runs scored (58), hits (82), triples (9), RBI's (58), total bases (144), slugging (.649), and hit by pitch (10). The nine triples established a new school record and pushed his two-year total to 13, tying the career mark at Southeast. Hatton was a team-leader all season long with the team riding his hot bat through the conference schedule. Hatton finished the season sixth in the nation in triples. He had the third highest amount of at bats in a season with 222, and tied the school record for games played in a season with 57. He finished off his spectacular season by signing a professional contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Brad Purcell became only the third pitcher ever in Southeast history to have 12 wins in a season along with his teammate Brandon Smith and last year's pitching star Todd Pennington. Purcell also had a few records this season. The senior from Australia set the school record for innings pitched with 117 and tied the record for games started with 17. He became the second Southeast pitcher in a row to be named Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year behind Pennington. Purcell finished the season 12-3 and struck out a team high 102 batters while walking only 38 batters. He limited opposing hitters to a .248 average. He was a first-team All-OVC selection.

Brandon Smith became the highest-ever drafted player from Southeast as he concluded a highly-successful season by being drafted in the 18th round of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft by the Boston Red Sox.

Smith, along with Purcell tied the school record for wins in a season with 12 and was a second team All-OVC Selection. He finished the season with 82 strikeouts and 34 walks. He had four pickoffs on the season as well. His biggest accomplishments included wins at Oklahoma State and Alabama in the NCAA Regional as well as a one-hitter at Eastern Kentucky. He had two complete games on the season and the only shutout by an Indian pitcher all season.

Mark Frazier anchored the Tribe's bullpen this season. His five saves rank him second all time in a season and his 26 appearances ranks him third. He had the league's best strikeout per nine innings ratio at 10.06 and was an instrumental part to this year's success. Frazier was an Honorable Mention All-OVC selection this season. Junior Donnie Fuller started this season in the bullpen providing mostly long relief, but found his way into the starting rotation late in the season winning three games including a win at home against Missouri, a win on the road against Morehead State, and a win in the OVC Tournament against Tennessee Tech.

The rest of the pitching staff was led by junior Tim Alvarez. Alvarez, a junior college transfer, was initially a first baseman, but when his bat didn't come alive, he was allowed the chance to pitch. After a change in his delivery to the plate, he surfaced as one of the top pitchers in the league. He finished the season with team and league-low ERA of 2. 95. He had three big saves on the season at Missouri and Oklahoma State, as well as an extra-inning win at Saint Louis and a nine-inning complete game victory at Arkansas. Alvarez finished the season with a 5-1 record and limited batters to a team and league low average of .229. Juniors Jim Beever, Andy Davidson, Brent Self and Ryan Cheo also helped bolster the strong bullpen for the Tribe. Davidson once again led the team in strikeout to walk ratio with a 5.7:1 mark.

Moving to the field where the Tribe had a corps of quality fielders and excellent hitters. Junior catcher Tristen McDonald proved to be a formidable hitter in the Tribe's five slot in the lineup. The catcher hit .353 on the season while leading the team in homers with 10 and falling in second in RBI's with 52. He had a .981 fielding percentage behind the dish for the Indians and as was the case with most of the Tribe, turned it on with two outs as he hit .351 and drove in 17 RBI's. McDonald was a second team All-OVC selection.

Junior third baseman Denver Stuckey proved himself as the best fielding and clutch hitting infielders in the OVC this season. Stuckey led the team in stolen bases this season with 18 and moved his overall mark to 36, fourth all time on the career list at Southeast. He batted .349 and was a first-team All-OVC selection. He led the team in at-bats with 229 witch set a new school record for at-bats in a season. He was second in hits with 80 and was one of the team's hottest batters down the stretch of the season at one time going 13 consecutive games with either a lead-off hit or walk.

Junior shortstop Zach Borowiak had another impressive season that concluded by being drafted in the 49th round by the San Francisco Giants. Borowiak will be back next year, however for his senior campaign and will hope to continue on his stellar season he had this year. The junior hit .324, was tied for second in doubles with 17 and had four home runs with 35 RBI's. He had three triples, two of which were in the same game against Tennessee-Martin as he is only the fifth player to ever do that at Southeast. Borowiak is currently 20 assists behind Bonilla's mark and should eclipse that next season to become the all-time leader in assists.

Junior left fielder Brian Hopkins had another stellar season hitting in the five hole most of the year for the Tribe. He started in all 56 games he played in and batted .317 with seven home runs, 34 RBI's and 12 doubles. He had a .498 slugging percentage and a .398 on base percentage. The left fielder was tied with junior Ryan Govek for the team lead in outfield assists with 6 and made only three errors all season for a .959 fielding percentage. He was an honorable mention All-OVC selection in the outfield as he had the team's highest average in conference play with a .431 mark.

Junior designated hitter David Lawson was a solid insertion into the lineup this season as he transferred to the Tribe. He batted .299 with seven doubles, two triples a home run and 26 RBI's. He had a .366 on base percentage and was flawless in the infield. He batted .348 in conference play, .350 in the OVC Tournament and .308 in the Regional Tournament. A clutch hitter, Lawson had 13 2-out RBI's this season and batted. .339 with runners in scoring position. He had 8 multiple-RBI games and 15 multiple hit games on the season.

Ryan Govek and Brice Nicholas paired up to platoon in right field this season and were solid defensively and showed great promise at the plate, both batting .250. Govek came alive in the Regional tournament hitting his first home run of the season in SEMO's game one victory and was the team's leading hitter in the tournament hitting .500. He had a .349 on base percentage and was a perfect 8-8 on the basepaths. Nicholas had his best game of the season this year as he returned home to Evansville and with his family on hand banged out a grand slam and a three-run home run en route to a 15-5 Indians victory. That performance garnered him OVC Player of the Week honors as well. Nicholas had four dingers on the season and had a .409 on base percentage. He was 7-9 on the basepaths.

Freshman first baseman Eric Hoffman was the Tribe's man on first this season as he started in 52 of 54 games he played in. he batted .235, but had some of the prettiest swings of anyone on the team this season with seemingly everything he hit, going directly to an opposing fielder. Hoffman came alive the last three weeks of the season as he hit his first career grand slam at Morehead State and hit .333 in the regional tournament with two home runs and a team-leading five RBI's.

Rounding out the Tribe this season was a deep bench that consisted of senior's Brad Simmons and Matt Baldwin, along with junior David Kurtz and freshmen Scott Reinagel and Josh Eftink.

Baldwin was an active pinch hitter and runner for the Tribe this season as he had 21 at bats in his 21 games played in. he started in three of those games and was a solid defensive replacement making only one error for a .947 fielding percentage.

Simmons saw sparing time this season as he had only 11 at bats on the year. One of his last he made special as he hit his first home run as an Indian with a massive 450 feet shot at Morehead State in the final game of the season. Although he only batted .182, he had a .455 slugging percentage and also only made one error in the field.

Kurtz and Reinagel were the back-up catchers for the Tribe this season, but with the success that McDonald saw behind the plate, both didn't get much of a chance to showcase their talents. Kurtz played in 13 games, starting one, and was flawless behind the plate with absolutely no errors on the season. Reinagel got into two games this season starting one, as he was the designated hitter in the team's final game at Morehead. He had just two official at bats and was hit by a pitch once this year.

Josh Eftink proved to be one of the Tribe's most powerful bats off the bench. He had a .261 average and played in 14 games, starting five of them. He had two home runs on the year with his first one coming against Culver Stockton early in the season. He had a .522 slugging percentage and a .320 on base percentage.

One of the biggest reasons for the Tribe's success this season was its fans. The team had nearly 21,000 fans in attendance this season at Capaha Park for an average home attendance of 839. That number was the highest attendance mark ever for a season and showed the level of devotion the fans of Southeast Baseball have. The strong support didn't stop, however, as the team went on the road. The Indians were always well-represented at opposing schools and had the biggest fan-base at the OVC Tournament in Paducah. Southeast would like to thank its fans and ask them to continue their support as 2003 will be another season to remember.