Southeast Missouri State baseball team continues quest for OVC tourney crown today

The last two seasons have ended in disappointment for the Southeast Missouri State baseball team.

The Redhawks enter the Ohio Valley Conference tournament as the regular-season champion and top seed for the third straight year.

But after falling short of their ultimate goal the last two seasons, they won't be satisfied with anything less than the tournament title and securing the league's automatic bid to an NCAA regional.

"Safe to say," Southeast senior Garrett Gandolfo said with a smile. "We need to get to a regional, for sure."

Southeast opens the six-team, double-elimination tournament against either No. 4 Morehead State or No. 6 Belmont at 7 p.m. today at The Ballpark in Jackson, Tennessee.

Southeast Missouri State starter Joey Lucchesi pitches to a Morehead State batter during the third inning Friday, March 18, 2016 at Capaha Field.Fred Lynch

Morehead State defeated fifth-seeded Tennessee Tech 3-2 in 12 innings in a game that was delayed by rain. The second game between No. 3 Austin Peay and No. 6 Belmont was moved to a 10:05 p.m. start and wasn't finished by press time.

The top-seeded Redhawks will face the lowest-seeded winner.

"I think we're a little bit more closer as a unit than past years," Southeast senior shortstop Branden Boggetto said. "Something just feels right about this team. We really want it, and I think we're going to go down to Jackson and prove that we're the No. 1 team."

Fourth-year coach Steve Bieser can find few differences in the championship teams over these past three years but hopes that one thing that has set them apart will play a role in a different outcom.

"The one thing that this team continues to preach is the togetherness, that they're a team that's united, they're a team that believes in one another, and there's just a lot of good friendships on this team," Bieser said. "The team chemistry is so important, especially in big situations where there's going to be some anxiety, there's going to be some nervousness, there's going to be just a lot of really tense moments in this week that we've got coming in front of us, and for them to be able to trust one another and know that they can count on each other, I think that's a big difference between this club."

Southeast Missouri State coach Steve Bieser watches the game with Murray State on Saturday, April 30, 2016 at Capaha Field.Fred Lynch

The Redhawks were fortunate to reach the championship round of last year's tournament after falling to Belmont in their tournament opener. They had to battle through three elimination games in two days before falling to Morehead State 16-3 in the final.

In 2014, Southeast won its first game before losing its next two.

"When you look at the bracket, everybody goes, 'We've got to win the first game,' and I'm just like, 'We've got to win the first two games,'" Gandolfo said, "because you just don't even want to have to mess around with the loser's bracket and have to play all those teams because really anything can happen in those games."

Southeast will send ace and two-time reigning OVC Pitcher of the Year Joey Lucchesi to the mound tonight, with Clay Chandler and Robert Beltran expected to pitch the next two games, respectively. Lucchesi became the first player to repeat as OVC Pitcher of the Year when he was awarded the title for the second time in his two-year career on Tuesday. Beltran was named to the first team, and Chandler earned second-team all-conference honors.

"I think they're ready to go. They've showed that they're the three guys that have earned it all season long," Bieser said. "They haven't missed a start. They've been able to keep us in games. It seems like Chandler has been just OK, but when you really break it down and look at it, we just haven't scored runs for him. We've got to score five runs every single game we play, and if we can do that, then we're pretty confident that our pitching can hold up throughout the tournament setting.

Southeast Missouri State's Trevor Ezell rounds third base to score on a home run by Dan Holst against Murray State during the second inning Saturday, April 30, 2016 at Capaha Field.Fred Lynch

"Those guys have done their job. We've got to do a better job of when they're on the mound, just getting them that early lead and continuing to add runs. I think if we can do that, our pitching is going to hold up just fine."

The Redhawks rank third in conference games with a .312 batting average. They averaged 8.6 runs, which was second only to Jacksonville State's 9.6, and led the league with 175 base on balls and 46 home runs.

Southeast started out by sweeping its first four conference series this season and finished 22-8. The Redhawks take a 35-18 record into the tournament and are coming off a series loss to Belmont last weekend.

Against the tournament field, Southeast posted a record of 8-7. The Redhawks swept No. 4 Morehead State and picked up a series win against No. 2 Jacksonville State but lost series against No. 3 Austin Peay, No. 5 Tennessee Tech and No. 6 Belmont.

"You try to think back to what you did wrong so we can kind of fix what we did," Boggetto said of the past two tournaments. "I think going in there the last two seasons as the No. 1 seed, we kind of felt a lot of pressure, and we played really tense and tight instead of just playing relaxed and confident. I think the biggest thing this year is not being afraid to make mistakes, just going out there and leaving it all on the field and hope for the best."

Southeast Missouri State reliever Adam Pennington pitches to a Stephen F. Austin batter during the fifth inning Saturday, May 14, 2016 at Capaha Field.Fred Lynch

Southeast's pitching depth is a strength the team hasn't had the past two seasons, according to Bieser. The Redhawks led the league with a 3.57 ERA against conference foes.

Adam Pennington, Jake Busiek and Jacob Lawrence are all reliable options in relief. Pennington's posted a 1.21 ERA and 3-0 record in eight conference appearances (22 1/3 innings pitched). Busiek made 13 appearances in OVC action and has a 4.05 ERA, but six of his nine earned runs against conference opponents came against Eastern Illinois.

Lawrence has made two relief appearances in conference action, including three perfect innings against Belmont last Friday in which he struck out seven of the nine batters he faced. He was primarily used throughout the regular season as a midweek starter. He started seven games, pitching 48 innings.

"Whenever you think about bullpen guys, you talk about guys that can throw one inning here or there, but I think the difference this year is we've got Busiek, we've got Pennington and we've got Lawrence that if we need them in the fifth inning they can jump in and they can ride a game out all the way to the ninth, and we haven't had those types of guys before -- really they're semi-starters," Bieser said. "... In the tournament, they can run 70-80 pitches if we need them to do that on a particular day and be effective doing that because they've been close to that several times and with the adrenaline of the tournament they're going to be pretty good to be able to go a little deeper."

Bieser expects to get a boost from Justin Murphy, who's been the Redhawks' primary closer but hasn't pitched since May 13 due to a back issue. He's 3-0 with three saves and a 1.47 ERA in 13 OVC appearances. Bieser said it's unlikely that senior first baseman Ryan Rippee will be available to play in the tournament as he continues to recover from a dislocated kneecap.

"We really haven't had a healthy Murphy for the last three weeks, and I think you can kind of see those close games that we've lost in the last few weeks, it's a big difference when you have a healthy Murphy," Bieser said. "Whenever we've got him going and ready, we can do a few things different in our game setting of what we would normally be able to do without him."

Bieser, who nabbed his second OVC Coach of the Year honor prior to the tournament, said the impressiveness of the program's success under his reign hasn't entirely registered with him because the Redhawks have yet to secure that elusive tournament title and spot in a regional.

"It's really hard to understand where our hiccups have actually been in the tournament," Bieser said. "I've felt like every year that we were prepared, felt like both years we were the best team in the tournament, and then we just didn't come out and perform the way that we'd performed all season long. I don't think we do anything different other than show up and be ready to play, and I'm confident in this group that they're going to show up and be ready to play."