OVC-leading Southeast Missouri State baseball team to host SIUE

Nearly every time Southeast Missouri State baseball coach Steve Bieser has been asked what he expects heading into a game this season he's had the same answer.

That answer is that he and his players expect to win no matter who their opponent may be.

"Knowing how to win is a part of baseball, and I think we just really grasped that concept this year," Southeast senior first baseman Matt Tellor said. "Just coming in to every single game, not just thinking we have a chance to win but knowing that we're going to win going into it."

"Last year we had a lot of injuries and it was kind of we didn't know who was starting that game, and I don't know, this year was just a big turnaround and the coaches really harped on just knowing that you can win the game and everyone's got each other's back," Tellor added when asked why the mindset is different this season. "Just going into every game, just having a good feeling about it."

That mentality, which hasn't appeared as overly confident, is working out well so far as the Redhawks are nearly at the midpoint of their season and sit in first place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings.

Southeast takes an 18-10 overall record and 10-2 conference record into its three-game series against SIU Edwardsville. The series is slated to start with a 5 p.m. game tonight at Capaha Field.

The Cougars (10-16, 8-4 OVC) are tied for third in the conference with Tennessee Tech.

When questioned on how his players are responding to their successful start, Bieser expressed that he's trying to lead by example.

"I kind of try to stay very even keel, and I hope that's contagious because in this game you can't get too high or too low," Bieser said with a laugh. "Just kind of talking about staying humble and staying focused and approaching it one thing at a time, not trying to get ahead of ourselves. We've still got a lot of the season left. We can't sit back and say we've got it all figured out. We've got to keep working hard every day and try to improve each day, and if we can continue the road that we're on right now with guys having that enthusiasm to come not just to show up for the game and play because everybody loves that part, but show up to practice and have a really enthusiastic workout and a focused workout where they're getting better. ... We've got that going right now, and we've just got to continue that and I think everything will be good."

The Redhawks have won their last four games, including a 7-0 shutout of Arkansas State on Tuesday following their sweep of UT Martin last weekend.

SIUE has lost three straight after a 3-1 win Friday against defending OVC regular season champion Tennessee Tech.

SIUE junior pitcher Ryan Daniels, who was named OVC Pitcher of the Week after his complete-game performance in that win against the Golden Eagles, will start on the mound today for the Cougars.

Daniels has the second-best ERA in the OVC at 1.90. He's 4-0 this season with 38 strikeouts and only six walked batters.

"I actually had seen him in high school whenever he was at Oakville (High School) there and know that he's got a good strong arm," Bieser said about the Cougars pitcher, who is from the St. Louis area. "But I think really what sets him apart now is he's really developed into that complete pitcher. He's got a good sinking fastball with good velocity, and he's got a very good changeup and a good breaking ball.

"He's beat some really good teams so you know that he's very accomplished and he's got everything rolling in his direction right now. He's very confident with his pitches because he's pitched some outstanding games this year. He's going to be a challenge for our hitters, and I think if we can kind of keep our approach and try to make sure that we're following our process, then I think we'll have a chance to be able to be very competitive in the game."

The Redhawks boast the second-best batting average (.307) in the conference -- they were ranked 19th in the nation as of Monday -- and will try to keep that up against Daniels today.

Tellor, who was named the OVC Player of the Week as well as one of the Louisville Slugger National Players of the Week and an NCAA Top Performer, enters the game on quite the offensive tear.

He was 9 for 16 last week with 11 RBI and nine runs. He blasted four home runs, including three against UT Martin on Sunday.

His nine homers this season are most in the conference and tied for third in the nation.

"A couple of weeks ago I sat down with the coaches because I was struggling a little bit, and they told me to pretty much go back to what made me successful in the first place and what got me here," Tellor said. "Then that, along with I'm just taking a better approach and swinging at pitches that I can hit rather than pitches that the pitchers want me to swing at. So just not expanding the strike zone was a big part of it."

Southeast will send Tyler Iago (4-1) to the mound today and Ryan Lenaburg (3-2) will start Saturday.

Travis Hayes was scratched from last Sunday's start due to a strained left side. Bieser was unsure as of Thursday whether he'd pitch Sunday or not.

"We don't really know where we're at with that, but I'm very comfortable with Alex Winkelman in there on Sunday, and there's a good chance that that's who our starter will be Sunday," Bieser said. "We just want to make sure that Travis is really ready to go before we push him."

The Redhawks pitching staff hasn't allowed an earned run in the last four games, with two of those games being shutouts. Bieser gave an easy explanation for any improvements from the pitchers.

"Where we hit that little lull was the fact that we were at Eastern Kentucky and the wind's blowing out 30 miles an hour and they've got a very high-powered offense, and we started being a little timid in the strike zone," Bieser said. "We weren't really attacking the strike zone; we'd nibble around the plate, we'd get ourselves behind in counts and then that's where they would do damage. That kind of got us in a bad swing for the Eastern Kentucky series leading into the Morehead series.

"Guys lost some confidence because they weren't really getting ahead of hitters. We were able to start getting back ahead of hitters, and now that we're getting ahead of hitters we're having much more success. I think it's just like hitting is contagious, I think pitching's contagious, too. When you go out and see the guy in front of you pitching or somebody pitching and they're attacking the strike zone and having success then that kind of just, the rest of the guys follow suit in attacking the strike zone."

Southeast and SIUE are slated to play at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.