Southeast Missouri (5-11) at Central Arkansas (7-8)
 
Dates: Tuesday-Wednesday, March 13-14, 2018
Series Schedule: Tue. - 6 p.m., CT; Wed. - 3 p.m., CT
Site: Conway, Ark.
Facility: Bear Stadium (1,000)
Series: SEMO leads, 7-5
Last Meeting: UCA 5, SEMO 4 (Mar. 21, 2017 / Conway, Ark.)
Head Coaches: Andy Sawyers (121-64 overall; 34-37 at SEMO; 18-15 OVC). Allen Gum (222-188 overall; 222-188 at UCA).

Southeast Missouri Probable Starting Pitchers
Tuesday - Ryan Losman, RHP
Wednesday - Nate Green LHP

Media Coverage
Radio: ESPN 92.9 FM (Erik Sean)
Live Stats: UCASports.com
Southeast Missouri Notes
 
Redhawks Hit the Road
Southeast Missouri (5-11) hits the road for its next six games. The Redhawks first visit Central Arkansas (7-8) for a two-game midweek series, beginning Tuesday at 6 p.m., CT.

Follow the Redhawks
Fans can listen to this week's games on the radio at ESPN 92.9 FM. Erik Sean will call the action. Live stats are available at UCASports.com. Twitter updates provided @SEMObaseball.

Series History
Southeast owns a 7-5 series lead against Central Arkansas. The Redhawks are 5-2 in their last seven meetings with the Bears. These teams last met on Mar. 21, 2017 with UCA posting a 5-4 victory in Conway. It was the fourth game decided by one run in the series.

Strong OVC Start
The Redhawks opened Ohio Valley Conference play with a 2-1 series win over Morehead State (Mar. 9-10) in Cape Girardeau. Southeast claimed its 17th series victory all-time during the opening weekend of league action. It was the 16th time the Redhawks posted a series win against the Eagles since the teams first starting playing in 1992.

OVC Openers
Head Coach Andy Sawyers picked up his first career win in an Ohio Valley Conference opener when Southeast beat Morehead State, 5-4, on Mar. 9. The Redhawks improved to 16-11 all-time in OVC openers. Southeast has now recorded a win in four of its last six games to open the league campaign. 

Back-to-Back Wins
Southeast won back-to-back games for the first time this season when it took games one and two en route to its first series victory over Morehead State (Mar. 9-10). The  Redhawks edged the Eagles, 5-4, and upended MSU, 10-3, in those contests. It was the second time in three years where Southeast won a series against the Eagles, who were picked second in the 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Poll. 

Last Time Against Central Arkansas
The Redhawks fell to Central Arkansas, 5-4, on a walk-off walk in the bottom of the 12th inning on Mar. 21, 2017 in Conway, Arkansas. A hit batsman and two walks loaded the bases for UCA in the bottom of the 12th. William Hancock, ahead 2-0 in the count, drew the decisive bases on balls to secure the win for the Bears. 

Urhahn Delivers
Left fielder Chase Urhahn went 4-for-4 with a double, scored the tying run and had a walk to lead Southeast to its series-opening 5-4 win over Morehead State (Mar. 9). Urhahn's four hits marked a season-high as he became the second Redhawk to finish with four hits in a game this season. He hit .429 with six hits in 14 at-bats in the series. He also scored five runs, added a double and stole a base. Urhahn pushed his batting average over .300 (.302) for the first time this season.

Vega Wins!
Reliever Carlos Vega tossed two perfect innings to beat Morehead State (Mar. 9). Vega retired six-straight hitters on two fly ball outs, three groundball outs and a strikeout. He has not allowed a run in his last seven innings out of the bullpen and owns three of Southeast's five victories this season.

Big Inning
The Redhawks erupted for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning en route to a 10-3 series clinching win over Morehead State (Mar. 10). Southeast had six two-out hits to fuel the rally. The seven runs were the Redhawks most in any inning of baseball this year.

Nielsen Homers 
Third baseman Alex Nielsen became the fifth different Southeast player to hit a home run this season. Nielsen smacked a two-run home run as part of the Redhawks seven-run fifth inning against Morehead State (Mar. 10). It was Southeast's 10th home run of the season. 

Midweek Games 
Southeast is currently 0-3 in midweek games this season. The Redhawks dropped two one-run affairs at Arkansas State (7-6, Feb. 20) and Memphis (3-2, Feb. 27), and fell to Southern Illinois (5-0, Mar. 6). 

New Season-High
The Redhawks established a new season high with 14 hits in their 10-3 victory over Morehead State (Mar. 10). Trevor Ezell (4), Peyton Faulkner (2), Tristen Gagan (3) and Justin Dirden (2) combined for 11 of those hits. It marked Southeast's sixth double-digit hit game this year.  

Second in the OVC
Trevor Ezell ranks second in the Ohio Valley Conference with a .455 batting average. Ezell is one of two players in the conference hitting over .450. He also ranks among the OVC's top five leaders in hits (1st, 30), at-bats (t1st, 66) and steal attempts (t1st, 7).

Closing In
Trevor Ezell needs just six more hits to reach 200 in his career. Ezell enters the week with 194 hits in 141 career games. He is also five RBI away from 100 in his career.

Other Streaks
Justin Dirden and Chase Urhahn are on three-game hitting streaks. Peyton Faulkner has reached base safely seven games in a row. Tristen Gagan has started 65-consecutive games.

National Rankings
Trevor Ezell rates fourth in the nation in hits (30) and 16th in batting average (.455). Ezell is also sixth in hits per game (1.88). Pitchers Logan Spalt and Ashton Holyfield are tied for sixth nationally in starts with four apiece.