Southeast Missouri State's Lucchesi is named OVC pitcher of the year

The Ohio Valley Conference champion Southeast Missouri State baseball team had six players honored at Tuesday's end-of-year awards banquet in Jackson, Tennessee.

Junior pitcher Joey Lucchesi highlighted the Redhawks award recipients by being named the conference's pitcher of the year. Junior first baseman Ryan Rippee, junior shortstop Branden Boggetto, junior designated hitter Garrett Gandolfo and senior utility player Andy Lennington were each selected to the All-OVC second team while freshman Trevor Ezell was named to the All-Freshman team.

Lucchesi, a transfer from Chabot College in California, began the season in the bullpen before earning a spot in the starting rotation prior to the start of conference play. He posted a 7-1 record in the regular season and had a conference-best 2.87 ERA and 87 strikeouts. Opponents batted .194 against him, which ranked first in the OVC, while only giving up 11 extra base hits the entire season.

The Redhawks have had the OVC pitcher of the year for the past two seasons. Travis Hayes received the award last season.

Rippee, a transfer from Jefferson College, started all 54 games and batted .306 during the regular season with a .569 slugging percentage. He leads the team and is 35th in the country with 54 RBIs and 43rd in the country with 12 home runs. He only committed one error at first base.

Gandolfo, a transfer from South Mountain Community College, started in 42 games, including 38 as the Redhawks' designated hitter. He had a .307 batting average with a .530 slugging percentage and eight home runs. He drove in 51 runs.

Lennington, from Franklin, Tennessee, led Southeast with a .333 batting average during his senior campaign. Lennington started the season at his primary position at third base, missed seven games with an injury and has since played in the outfield. He's driven in 45 runs with 11 doubles and seven home runs.

Ezell started in every game for the Redhawks, but it hasn't always been in the same spot. He started his first game as the designated hitter and has also played eight games at second base, 17 games in left field and 28 games at his current position at third base. The freshman from Alexander, Arkansas, spent the majority of the season as Southeast's leadoff hitter and had a 20-game on-base streak to begin his collegiate career. He batted .318 in the regular season with 17 doubles, three triples and four home runs, and leads the team with 61 runs scored and 71 hits.

Top-seeded Southeast received a first-round bye in the OVC tournament, which begins today, and will face the lowest seed of Wednesday's winners at 7 p.m. Thursday.