No. 1 Southeast Missouri (35-18, 0-0) vs. No. 4 Morehead State (32-25, 1-0)
Series Information
Dates: Thursday, May 26, 2016
First Pitch: 7 p.m.
Location: Jackson, Mo.
Stadium: The Ballpark at Jackson
Seed: No. 1; First-Round Bye
Head Coaches: Steve Bieser (134-94, Fourth Season); Mike McGuire (115-115, Fourth Season)
 
Media Information
Radio: SEMO ESPN 1220 AM / Erik Sean, Jess Bolen| Listen Live
Live Video: OVC Digital Network
Live Stats: OVCSports.com
Twitter Updates: @SEMObaseball
Game Notes: Southeast Missouri | Morehead State
 
Probable Starting Pitchers
Thursday: LHP Joey Lucchesi (9-4) vs. TBA
 
Leading Off
• Southeast Missouri is 3-4 against Morehead State all-time in the OVC Tournament. The Redhawks lost to the Eagles in the Championship round a season ago.
• Southeast Missouri baseball finished the 2016 season with a 35-18 overall record and a 22-8 record in OVC play.
• The Redhawks, who won their third consecutive regular-season title, will carry the No. 1 seed into their 22nd consecutive OVC Tournament.
• For the second season in a row and the first time ever in league history, Joey Lucchesi has been named the OVC Pitcher of the Year. Southeast Missouri has won the award the last three seasons.
• Head coach Steve Bieser was awarded the OVC Coach of the Year after guiding the Redhawks to their third OVC title in just four years at the helm of the program. He is one of 15 coaches in league history to win the award twice.
• Southeast tied a program record landing five players on the First Team All-OVC squad. Two players earned Second Team accolades.
• All-time, Southeast is 36-41 at the OVC Tournament; Steve Bieser is 6-6 in three tournament appearances.
• In four appearances as the No. 1 seed, the Redhawks have compiled an 8-5 record in the postseason.
• Against the other five teams in the field, Southeast is 21-20 all-time in the OVC Tournament. Of the five teams, the Redhawks have the most wins (seven) over Austin Peay.
• In the regular season against the tournament field, Southeast dropped three of the five series with one sweep.
• Joey Lucchesi broke Southeast Missouri's and the OVC single-season strikeout records last Thursday. He now has 136 this season and leads the nation.
• Lucchesi earned his third national and conference weekly honor of the season following last Thursday's start against Belmont.
• Senior Hunter Leeper played all nine defensive positions in the regular-season finale against Belmont on May 21 at Capaha Field.
• Chris Osborne leads the country with an .803 slugging percentage.
 
Redhawks Rundown
It's Tournament Time
No. 1 Southeast Missouri baseball opens play at the 2016 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Thursday at 7 p.m. against No. 4 Morehead State in game five. Two-time OVC Pitcher of the Year Joey Lucchesi will get the start on the mound for Southeast at The Ballpark at Jackson.
 
Follow the Redhawks
Southeast Missouri's appearance at the 2016 OVC Tournament will be broadcast on SEMO ESPN 1220 AM. Erik Sean will provide play-by-play on the broadcast. Sean will be joined by Jess Bolen, who will provide analysis. Fans can download the SEMO ESPN app to listen to live broadcasts of Redhawks baseball. The tournament will be broadcast in its entirety to the OVC Digital Network for free. Live stats will be available on OVCSports.com and GoSoutheast.com. Live Twitter updates are available on the official Twitter page of Southeast Missouri baseball, @SEMObaseball.
 
Redhawks Three-Peat
Southeast Missouri finished the season with a 22-8 record to win its third-straight and fourth overall OVC Championship. Southeast has won the title in 2002, 2014, 2015, and now in 2016. They are the first team to win three-straight regular season titles since 1995-97 (Middle Tennessee). MTSU and Southeast are the only OVC teams to win three-straight regular season titles since division play ended in 1989 but Southeast is the only one to do it with three outright (MTSU shared the 1996 and 1997 titles).

So Far in the Tournament
No. 4 Morehead State defeated No. 5 Tennessee Tech in game one of the OVC Tournament on Thursday. The game started late due to weather then featured a three-hour, 28-minute rain delay that began at the seventh-inning stretch. Morehead State tied the game at 2-2 in the eighth inning, eventually sending the game into extra innings. A walk-off base hit in the 12^th inning lifted MSU over TTU, 3-2. No. 3 Austin Peay defeated No. 6 Belmont in a late-night game two, 12-7. A six-run sixth inning by the Govs opened a comfortable lead on the Bruins, allowing the Govs to cruise to an opening-round victory. Austin Peay will play No. 2 Jacksonville State in game four at 3 p.m. Thursday. 
 
Southeast Against Morehead State in 2016
The Redhawks earned a three-game sweep over Morehead State in the second OVC series of the season, Mar. 18-20, at Capaha Field. The Redhawks and Eagles went extra innings in two of the three games. The Redhawks took game one, 5-1, behind four RBI by Hunter Leeper. Joey Lucchesi struck out 10 Eagles in the game and allowed only three hits. Branden Boggetto hit a walk-off home run in the 10^th inning to lift the Redhawks to victory in game two, 5-4. The Redhawks were down by a run in the ninth of game three but used a Garrett Gandolfo RBI hit to tie the game. A walk-off walk to Ryan Rippee plated the winning run in the 10^th inning, securing the sweep. Southeast Missouri leads the all-time series against Morehead State, 43-35.
 
Lucchesi Named OVC Pitcher of the Year
For the second year in a row, left-handed pitcher Joey Lucchesi has been named the OVC Pitcher of the Year. Lucchesi becomes the first to win the award in back-to-back seasons in conference history. 2016 is the third season in a row a Southeast Missouri pitcher has taken home the award. Southeast had a similar stretch from 2001-03 when Todd Pennington, Brad Purcell, and Tim Alvarez won the award in consecutive seasons. This is the eighth time a Southeast Missouri pitcher has won Pitcher of the Year.
 
Bieser Named OVC Coach of the Year
For the second time in three years, fourth-year head coach Steve Bieser has been awarded the OVC Coach of the Year. Bieser helped Southeast Missouri to its third-straight outright OVC regular season championship in 2016, becoming the first coach in league history to accomplish that feat. In the past three seasons, the Redhawks have combined to go 67-23 in OVC play and win at least 35 overall games in each of those years. At one point of this season Southeast Missouri won 11-straight and 15 of 16 games. After a pair of losses the team then won nine of its next 10 games and garnered votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll. Southeast Missouri started Conference play 12-0, the best start to league play in school history. Bieser becomes one of just 15 coaches in OVC history to win multiple Coach of the Year awards. He is the second Southeast Missouri coach to earn the honor.
 
Five Redhawks Earn First Team All-OVC Honors
Southeast Missouri had five players pick up First Team All-OVC honors, it was announced Tuesday evening. Shortstop Branden Boggetto, outfielder Chris Osborne, designated hitter Garrett Gandolfo, and starting pitchers Joey Lucchesi and Robert Beltran all earned the honor. The 2000 season also saw five Southeast Missouri players on the first team.
 
Redhawks Land Two on Second Team All-OVC
Sophomore second baseman Trevor Ezell and starting pitcher Clay Chandler earned Second Team All-OVC accolades following the 2016 season. Ezell earned All-Freshman Team honors a season ago.
 
Southeast at the OVC Tournament
Southeast Missouri has a combined all-time record of 36-41 at the OVC Tournament in 23 appearances in the postseason. Southeast Missouri has two OVC Tournament Championships (1998, 2002). The Redhawks are making their 22nd consecutive tournament appearance, a league record.
 
Redhawks As the Top Seed
Southeast Missouri is 8-5 as the No. 1 seed in the OVC Tournament. 2016 will be the third consecutive year the Redhawks hold the top seed. Last season, Southeast fell to Belmont in its first game then went on to win three games, eliminating Jacksonville State, Tennessee Tech, and Belmont along the way to the Championship round. The Redhawks fell to Morehead State in the Championship, ending their run.
 
Southeast Against the Field
Against the five other teams participating in this year's tournament, Southeast is a combined 21-20 against them. Southeast has the most OVC Tournament wins against Austin Peay. The Redhawks' tournament records against the field are:
            Austin Peay - 7-4
            Belmont - 2-1
            Jacksonville State - 4-6
            Morehead State - 3-4
            Tennessee Tech - 6-5
 
This Season Against the Field
Southeast won the regular-season series over just two of the other five teams in the OVC Tournament. Southeast dropped three OVC series this season. The Redhawks lost just one conference series in each 2014 and 2015. The only team in the tournament the Redhawks swept is Morehead State (Mar. 18-20).
 
Lucchesi Breaks Southeast, OVC Strikeout Records
On May 19 against Belmont, Southeast Missouri senior pitcher Joey Lucchesi established a new OVC single-season strikeout record with his 134th strikeout of the season. He broke the previous record of 133 set by Tennessee Tech's Todd Kemp in 1986. Lucchesi now has 136 strikeouts entering the postseason. Lucchesi also broke the Southeast Missouri record of 130 held by Ryan Spille in 1998.
 
Leading the Pack
Two Southeast Misosuri baseball players lead the country in a couple categories. Left-handed pitcher Joey Lucchesi leads the nation with 136 strikeouts. Junior outfielder Chris Osborne's .803 slugging percentage is also tops in Division I baseball.
 
Lucchesi Earns Third National, OVC Weekly Honor
For the third time this season, senior left-handed pitcher Joey Lucchesi was named a Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week as well as the adidas® Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week in the final week of the regular season. Lucchesi picked up his ninth win of the season in Thursday evening's start against Belmont. He pitched six innings in his start and allowed two runs, both in the second inning. Lucchesi started the game by striking out the side in the top of the first. The lefty struck out 13 batters in the game. It was the sixth time this season, third in his last four starts, that he topped the 10-strikeout mark.
 
#LeepingAround
On May 21 against Belmont, Southeast Missouri senior Hunter Leeper played all nine defensive positions in one game. Leeper started the game behind the plate then made his way to left, center, and right field, entered the infield at first, second, third, then shortstop, and pitched to one batter in the ninth inning to complete his trip around the field. It marks the first time in Southeast Missouri history that the feat has been accomplished. Former Florida State star and current San Francisco Giant catcher Buster Posey achieved the feat on May 12, 2008 against Savannah State.