Menu
Redhawks hope to regain top form in OVC postseason
Thursday, May 26, 2022
Southeast Missouri State shortstop Tyler Wilbur awaits an at-bat during a game earlier this season against Southern Illinois at Capaha Field.
Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com
The fact remains, that as great as the 2021 baseball season was for Southeast Missouri State, and it was great, the 2022 team won more games overall than last year’s squad.
A year ago, the Redhawks were a 30-win team that entered the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament as the regular-season champions after winning 17 league games.
This year’s group won 34 games (against 19 losses) and finished 16-8 in the conference. However, after closing the regular season by losing half of its final six games, which resulted in SEMO finishing two games out of first place, the Redhawks enter today’s OVC postseason surrounded by question marks.
No. 2-seed SEMO (34-19) will face No. 6-seed Tennessee Tech (29-25) today at 2 p.m. at Wild Health Field in Lexington, Ky. The Golden Eagles beat No. 7-seed Murray State 9-2 and No. 3-seed Morehead State 11-9.
SEMO was in control of its own regular-season destiny less than two weeks ago when OVC cellar-dweller UT Martin came to Cape Girardeau and beat the Redhawks at Capaha Field in the series opener.
SEMO then closed the season by losing two of three games at Eastern Illinois last weekend.
“I do have confidence in our team,” veteran Redhawk coach Andy Sawyers said. “The body of work that they put together over four months was an impressive year. We did a lot of good stuff and won a lot of big games.
“We had some awesome moments.”
But…
“I am also concerned because we didn’t finish the way that we would have liked to have finished.”
Sawyers did make a notable point that he would rather be guiding a team that is deep in proven talent and experience (SEMO won this tournament in 2021), that had struggled some late, as opposed to having a team that hadn’t proven itself but hoped to “find some magic” over a couple of days.
SEMO absolutely has the talent to win this tournament, and its seven players being honored by the OVC on Wednesday was indicative of that.
Shortstop Tyler Wilber was named to the All-OVC First Team on Wednesday, while catcher Andrew Keck, center fielder Brett Graber, and pitchers Jason Rackers and Kyle Miller were named to the Second Team.
Pitchers Ethan Osborne and Anthony Klein were both named to the All-Freshman Team.
For Rackers, his first season in Cape Girardeau after transferring from Tennessee has been a reliable one, and for that, he will get the start against Tennessee Tech.
“Jason has given us very competitive starts every time out,” Sawyers said. “He’s been steady, but the other guys have been good at times, but not super consistent.”
Rackers is coming off a seven-inning performance at Eastern Illinois in which he allowed just two earned runs while striking out six. However, in his four previous outings, 17 earned runs in 23 innings.
To be fair, Rackers only allowed nine earned runs in the six outings prior to that shaky stretch.
“We’ve gotten really consistent outings from (Rackers),” Sawyers continued, “and then we had to navigate some other stuff.”
Miller headlines a bullpen that has been less than healthy of late.
He has battled some arm fatigue issues that forced Sawyers to rest him in recent weeks, while Cisneros has endured a strained latissimus dorsi and is currently on medication to manage the pain.
Those two will team with senior Austin Williams out of the ‘pen.
“I’m hoping that those guys are sort of back to where they were in the first half of the year,” Sawyers said. “They are pretty special.”
The Redhawks won two of their three games against the Golden Eagles this season in Cookeville, Tenn.
This year marks a change in the bracket, which included four single-elimination games on Wednesday, with the winners advancing to the double-elimination portion of the bracket today.
The top two seeds (Belmont is the top seed) received byes.
Saturday’s Championship game will be a one-game “Winner Take All” matchup. All games will air on ESPN+.