SE EJECTS EIU IN OVC CLASH

Mark Hogan, Southeast Missouri State University's baseball coach, savored his 500th managerial victory Saturday.

The following afternoon, Hogan's heroes notched an important, well-fashioned triumph, a 5-2 win over Ohio Valley Conference adversary Eastern Illinois at Capaha Park. But Hogan viewed the final innings of victory No. 501 from afar.

After a close play in the fifth inning, Hogan evoked memories of George Brett as he stormed out of the Indians dugout, bumped the chest of umpire Dave Clement, and was ejected, a move that may have lit a spark in the Indians.

Before Hogan's ejection, Southeast had led 3-0 on Phil Warren's first-inning, two-run homer -- his fourth this season -- and Jeremy Johnson's RBI sacrifice in the third.

Southeast starter Dan Huesgen (2-3) escaped a bases-loaded, no-out spot in the fourth by permitting only one run, and Eastern threatened again in the fifth.

With Sean Lyons on second, Matt Marzec, the OVC player of the year last season, sent a beam to right. Warren, Southeast's right fielder, fired toward home as Lyons raced around third. Warren's throw easily beat Lyons, who moved well behind the plate to evade catcher Dan Berry's tag, which apparently missed Lyons. Lyons then dove back toward the plate ahead of Berry's second tag attempt.

The run made the score 3-2, and out sped Hogan, whose momentum carried him into the apparently unintentional contact with Clement.

"The first thing that I want to do is apologize to Dave Clement, who is a great umpire and a guy I respect a lot," Hogan said after the game. "On that play -- it was a bang-bang play at the plate with the throw from right field -- I saw where our catcher, when he caught the ball, he swung his glove around and hit the runner on the arm. And then there was the scramble.

"When I ran out there," Hogan continued, "I just ran into him. It was incidental, but at the same time it was very unacceptable. It was a weak move on my part, even though it was not intentional. But I owe him an apology."

As Hogan watched the rest of the contest, the rubber match after Saturday's doubleheader split with the Panthers, from a perch beyond left field, Southeast tacked on two runs in the eighth. Warren singled and scored on Darin Kinsolving's triple, and Kinsolving later came home on a Kyle Yount single.

The Indians, who were impeccable in the field Sunday and turned key double plays in the sixth and ninth, held Eastern scoreless after Hogan's ejection. Daniel Rodriguez relieved Huesgen in the seventh, and Jerry Wolsey came on in the ninth and got the save.

The Indians, the defending OVC Tournament champion, improved to 10-12 overall and 3-2 in the OVC, dropping the defending OVC regular-season champion Panthers to 7-15 and 3-3.

"It was definitely huge for us to take two out of three," said Warren, the Southeast right fielder. "We love playing this team. The challenge was there the whole weekend."

Hogan said, "When the conference play begins, everything tightens down a little bit. The play is better, and the intensity is better, and our guys really responded well this weekend. Our pitching was absolutely wonderful, the defense was air-tight and we had some big swings at the end of the ballgame."