Redhawks baseball looks for repeat OVC championship

Southeast Missouri State’s baseball team aims to repeat as champions of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, starting on Wednesday morning when they take on Jacksonville State.

Earlier this season, senior starting pitcher Justin Murphy had his best outing of the season against the Gamecocks, throwing a complete-game shutout.

During last season’s OVC Tournament, Murphy made two appearances against Jacksonville State and one appearance against Mississippi State in the NCAA Regional in Starkville, Mississippi.

Murphy will draw the start in game one for the Redhawks, and coach Andy Sawyers is hoping Murphy, as well as the other returning players, can draw on that experience in the tournament.

“The first time a team gets to a regional, it’s so big and so exciting, it’s a big deal,” Sawyers said. “Sometimes the energy and nerves take you away from being fundamental, doing the things you’ve been doing all year. For this team, they’ve won the tournament before, so hopefully we have a more grounded approach to this weekend where we won’t make it anything more than it actually is.”

Along with Murphy, the Redhawks have been starting senior Clay Chandler and junior Nate Green on the mound, but Sawyers has told senior Robert Beltran to be ready to make a start.

Beltran, who finished the season in the bullpen after struggling early in the season, tied for the team lead with 16 starts in OVC games in 2016.

“If we make a run, he’s gonna make a start in the tournament,” Sawyers said. “He was [8-1], first-team all-conference guy last year. He had some rough outings earlier this year, I think he lost his confidence more than anything, but we made some adjustments and [Friday night] was the best stuff I’ve seen out of him in a while.”

The starting roles are not the only changes being made to the pitching staff. Following an injury to junior closer Carlos Vega, junior right-handers Ryan Losman and Joey Burris have each seen increased roles. Losman will be serving as the team’s closer, as he did in Friday’s 8-4 win against Eastern Kentucky.

The Redhawks finished the regular season 16-14 in OVC play, finishing fifth in the conference, and on a three-game winning streak following its sweep of Eastern Kentucky.

The offense in particular has come on strong for Southeast, as the Redhawks have scored at least four runs in every game since being held to just one run against Murray State on April 23.

Senior outfielder Clayton Evans, who has been a part of three championship-winning teams with Southeast, says that ending the regular season strong can translate into tournament success.

“I’ve been in these scenarios before where you just need to get hot at the end and just keep things rolling that way to the end, so this could be something special,” Evans said.

While the Redhawks have entered each of the past three tournaments as the top seed, Evans says this year’s team has the toughness to make a run in the tournament.

“What sets this team apart is all year, we may not have always gotten the results, but we fought every inning of every game,” Evans said. “That’s honestly what it takes for a team to win that tournament is to never give up. It’s the teams that give up first that usually lose.