Indians to wrestle Bears in 3-game series at Capaha

Southwest Missouri State is not nearly the same team that appeared in the College World Series for the first time last season as most of the Bears' top players completed their eligibility and several of them are now playing professional baseball.

But the Bears (6-8) still figure to be plenty tough for Southeast Missouri State University (6-8) when the squads with identical records hook up in a three-game weekend series at Capaha Field. There will be 3 p.m. contest today and 1 p.m. games on Saturday and Sunday.

"They've got a tremendous program and what they've done over the years speaks for itself," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "I know they lost a lot of big-time players from last season, but they always have big expectations, just like we do, and I still expect them to field a very good ballclub."

SMS coach Keith Guttin also expects the Bears to eventually be strong, although he knows they're not close to a finished product right now.

"We've got a whole new team," Guttin said, laughing. "You try not to have that situation, but it just so happened we had a lot of older guys last year and that's why we were so good.

"I don't know that we've had the same lineup twice and we're still juggling people around. I think we have the talent, it just takes time."

Last season was certainly a magical one for Guttin and his program as the Bears finally broke through with a coveted College World Series appearance, thanks to their first Division I regional title.

"We just had a great season and everything came together," said Guttin, the Bears' 22-year coach who took SMS into the Division I level and has a 757-432 record in Springfield.

But Guttin also faced the reality of losing virtually all of his key players as seven were drafted and one signed a free-agent contract.

"We basically lost 10 guys around the field, and we lost six of our top seven pitchers," Guttin said.

The Indians, who did not have nearly the success of SMS last year -- although they did go 31-20 and have posted four straight seasons of at least 30 wins, including the program's first regional victory on the Division I level -- are in a similar predicament, having lost most of their key players from last season.

"I know they're in kind of the same situation we are, but they're always very good and we usually have good games with them," Guttin said.

SMS had lost three of its last four games before breaking loose Tuesday by pummeling host St. Louis University 21-10, thanks to six home runs. One of the Bears' losses was to Eastern Illinois, which like Southeast competes in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Bears have a .296 team batting average and a 5.27 earned-run average.

Freshman Ryan Gotcher leads the way offensively with a sizzling .450 batting average. Other top hitters are Jacob Hilgendorf (.340), Arkansas transfer Jud Kindle (.340) and Arkansas transfer Kirk McConnell (.333). Hilgendorf is a returnee, but he received only 23 at-bats last year.

In the pitching department, Chris Krawczyk (2-1, 3.12), junior college transfer Derek Drage (2-1, 3.29) and freshman Brett Sinkbeil (1-1, 4.95) have been the most impressive among the starters. Krawczyk returned after working just 18 1/3 innings last season.

Southeast, batting .265 as a team and carrying a 7.15 ERA against one of the nation's most challenging schedules so far, is coming off Wednesday's solid doubleheader sweep of Central Michigan, winning 7-5 and 7-2. Hogan knows the Indians will need similar if not better performances to succeed again this weekend.

"It's a big rivalry and we always have interesting games with them," Hogan said. "It should be a great series for the fans and hopefully we'll have some big crowds."