Southeast Missouri State baseball players Boggetto, Ezell selected academic all-district

Southeast Missouri State baseball players Branden Boggetto and Trevor Ezell were selected to the College Sports Information Directors of American Academic All-District 6 team.

Boggetto, a senior finance major who's started all 44 games at shortstop this season, has posted a 3.31 grade-point average during his career at Southeast.

Ezell, a sophomore business administration major who's started 43 games at second base, has a 3.92 cumulative GPA.

District 6 is made up of schools in Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Boggetto and Ezell were two of the five infielders selected from the district. Twelve student-athletes were chosen from the district.

Morehead State pitcher Matt Anderson was named to the District 2 team and Jacksonville State infielder Josh Bobo was selected to the District 4 team.

Each all-district selection advances to the CoSIDA All-America team ballot for the selection of All-Americans later this month.

Southeast has had 10 all-district selections in coach Steve Bieser's four seasons at the helm.

Basketball signing

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball added some height and international flavor to its roster with the signing of Milos Vranes to a National Letter of Intent on Thursday.

The 6-foot-7, 205-pound Vranes, from Serbia, joins the Redhawks after two seasons at North Dakota State College of Science.

"Milos provides our front court with skill and versatility," Southeast coach Rick Ray said in a press release. "We were in need of a skilled 4 that would be a threat to make 3s. Milos' ability to shoot, pass and drive will give some of our good drivers on the team, like Antonius [Cleveland], space to make more plays. He will be a huge asset to us becoming a much more efficient team on offense because the opposing team has to respect his perimeter talent."

Vranes averaged 11.8 points and 5.9 rebounds in 35 games last season. He knocked down 69 3-pointers.

He averaged 9.9 points and 5.0 rebounds as a freshman and shot a team-high 49.6 percent from the field and made 43 3s. He was a 74.2 percent free-throw shooter that season.

NDSCS went 54-14 during Vranes' two-year career. The Wildcats made National Junior College Athletic Association tournament appearances and won Region XIII titles each year he was there along with conference and district championships last season.

Vranes, who joins guards Ray Kowalski, Denzel Mahoney, Tahj Eaddy, Daniel Simmons and Dondre Duffus in the Redhawks' signing class, is the first international player in the Southeast men's basketball program since center Waylon Francis from the Bahamas in 2005-06.