OVC baseball tournament teams at a glance

AustinPeay

Seed: No. 1

Record: 27-25-1, 14-5-1 OVC

Coach: Gary McClure (456-448-4 in 16 years at AP)

Batting average: .287

Earned-run average: 5.28

Hitters to watch: Ron Bethke .383, 7 HR, 15 2B, 32 RBIs, 14-17 SB; A.J. Ellis .344, 7 HR, 11 2B, 38 RBIs; Travis Beech .322, 4 HR, 18 2B, 43 RBIs, 13-19 SB; Marcus Pearson .326, 1 HR, 11 RBIs; Chris Hyde .276, 8 HR, 10 2B, 32 RBIs

Pitchers to watch: Dustin Smith 6-5, 3.63 ERA; Devin Thomas 9-3, 4.85; Jake Lund 3-5, 1 S, 6.36; Jeff Mault 3-2, 10 S, 3.52; Scott Steinbrecher 2-0, 1 S, 3.79

Noteworthy: Governors beat Tennessee Tech 10-5 in 10 innings Saturday to win their first OVC regular-season title since 1996 by one-half game ... Ellis, the school's career hits leader, was born in Cape Girardeau and lived there until he was 12 ... Mault leads OVC in saves.Southeast

Seed: No. 2

n Record: 30-18, 14-6 OVC

Coach: Mark Hogan (278-203-1 in 9 years at SE)

Batting average: .323

Earned-run average: 5.18

Hitters to watch: Brian Hopkins .421, 18 HR, 3 3B, 19 2B, 59 RBIs; Zach Borowiak .385, 15 HR, 19 2B, 59 RBIs; Justin Christian .375, 12 HR, 3 3B, 11 2B, 44 RBIs, 18-20 SB; Denver Stuckey .335, 6 HR, 3 3B, 16 2B, 29 RBIs, 14-17 SB; Tristen McDonald .307, 12 2B, 26 RBIs

Pitchers to watch: Tim Alvarez 13-3, 1 S, 2.99; Bill Clayton 4-2, 6.14; Ryan Forsyth 5-2, 4.99; Jon Nourie 2-3, 5.90; Stan Skakalski 4-0, 4.62

Noteworthy: In conference games only, Indians lead league in batting average (.353), home runs (40) and fielding percentage (.977) ... Alvarez is tied for first nationally in wins and has the school single-season record. He also leads OVC in ERA ... Hopkins leads OVC in home runs and slugging percentage and is third in hitting.

Tennessee Tech

Seed: No. 3

Record: 27-23, 13-6 OVC

Coach: Aaron Carroll (88-81 in 3 years at TT)

Batting average: .316

Earned-run average: 5.15

Hitters to watch: Casey Benjamin .431, 5 HR, 3 3B, 17 2B, 44 RBIs; Ryan Hay .354, 6 HR, 13 2B, 45 RBIs; Carlos Martin .343, 10 HR, 12 2B, 49 RBIs; Cole Helms .324, 4 HR, 14 2B, 35 RBIs; Ben Shannon .322, 3 HR, 4 3B 17 2B, 33 RBIs; Scott Terry .312 9 HR, 34 RBIs

Pitchers to watch: Ben Downs 9-1, 1 S, 3.81; Dustin Eubanks 6-1, 4.28; Doug Vincent 4-4, 2 S, 4.85; Helms 3-3, 2 S, 2.20

Noteworthy: Benjamin is second in OVC in hitting and ranks ninth nationally. He also leads league in on-base percentage ... Eagles won tournament two years ago and lost to Southeast Missouri in last year's championship game.Murray State

Seed: No. 4

n Record: 20-28, 9-11 OVC

Coach: Mike Thieke (226-290-2 in 10 years at MSU)

Batting average: .276

Earned-run average: 5.16

Hitters to watch: Geoff Kirksey .355, 7 HR, 9 2B, 36 RBIs; Brett McCutchan .315, 6 HR, 17 2B, 45 RBIs; Ronnie Seets .305, 3 HR, 20 RBIs; Matt Rebout .288, 9 HR, 9 2B, 41 RBIs; Alex Stewart .270, 7 HR, 29 RBIs

Pitchers to watch: Craig Ringwald 4-3, 3.57; Craig Kraus 2-6, 1 S, 4.26; Kyle Perry 6-4, 5.61; Greg Gray 1-1, 7 S, 3.86

Noteworthy: Thoroughbreds are last in OVC in hitting and they ended season with six straight losses ... Ringwald, a Central High School graduate, is third in league in ERA ... Thieke will retire after the season. His replacement is former MSU player Rob McDonald.

Eastern Kentucky

Seed: No. 5

Record: 21-27, 8-11 OVC

Coach: Elvis Dominguez (36-67 in 2 years at EKU)

Batting average: .333

Earned-run average: 8.00

Hitters to watch: Josh Anderson .439, 6 HR, 4 3B, 19 2B, 50 RBIs, 48-55 SB; Neil Sellers .408, 16 HR, 23 2B, 79 RBIs, 13-20 SB; Stephen Carter .369, 4 HR, 27 RBIs; Greg Estep .350; Robby Price .353, 7 HR, 12 2B, 38 RBIs

Pitchers to watch: Nick Adams 5-3, 7.04; Chris Clark 3-2, 1 S, 6.97; Brad Schmittou 2-1, 6.90; Brandon Scott 3-2, 4 S, 4.99

Noteworthy: Colonels lead OVC in hitting but rank next-to-last in ERA ... Anderson leads conference in hitting and stolen bases, with 30 more thefts then any other player in the league. He is also first nationally in steals and fifth in hitting ... Sellers leads league in doubles and RBIs and is second in home runs. He is second nationally in RBIs.Eastern Illinois

Seed: No. 6

n Record: 24-29, 8-12 OVC

Coach: Jim Schmitz (254-216 in 9 years at EIU)

Batting average: .300

Earned-run average: 6.69

Hitters to watch: Kirk Walters .388, 12 HR, 3 3B, 51 RBIs; Kyle Haines .338, 9 HR, 12 2B, 44 RBIs; Aaron Shelbourne .333, 12 HR, 15 2B, 50 RBIs; Bret Pignatiello .318, 15 HR, 10 2B, 52 RBIs; Chris Uhle .318, 7 HR, 16 2B, 32 RBIs, 10-10 SB

Pitchers to watch: Damon White 4-4, 3.44; Jared Marshall 6-2, 5.98; Micah Gray 4-1, 1 S, 5.93; Nathan Stone 4-5, 4 S, 2.88

Noteworthy: Panthers lead OVC with 70 home runs, one more than Southeast Missouri ... White is second in league in ERA ... Panthers needed to beat Tennessee-Martin in Saturday's finale of three-game series to make tournament.

-- Marty Mishow