CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Andy Sawyers was named Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year and left-hander Dylan Dodd was voted Pitcher of the Year to highlight Southeast Missouri's 2021 All-Conference baseball honors.
 
Shortstop Tyler Wilber (Second-Team) and right-handed pitchers Kyle Miller (All-Freshman) and Collin Wilma (All-Freshman) also earned All-OVC laurels.
 
Sawyers claimed his first OVC title as a head coach when the Redhawks won their final series of regular season over UT Martin (May 20-21). SEMO did not qualify for the OVC Tournament in 2019 and was ranked fifth in the league's preseason poll before Sawyers guided the Redhawks to their first OVC regular-season crown since 2016. The title also marked SEMO's fifth in program history.
 
SEMO, the top seed in this week's four-team OVC Tournament, is in pursuit of its fourth OVC Tournament title. The Redhawks won eight of their nine series in conference play and posted 11 series victories in 2021, the most in a season with Sawyers at the helm. SEMO won 15 of its last 21 games and has not lost back-to-back contests since late March.
 
Sawyers' club enters the postseason ranked tied for first in the OVC in fielding percentage (.973), first in saves (13), first in sacrifice bunts (29), second in wins (27), second in earned run average (5.06) and third in opposing batting average (.271). Sawyers becomes the third head coach to win the coveted OVC Coach of the Year award in SEMO baseball history joining Mark Hogan (2002) and Steve Bieser (2014, 2016).
 
A native of Danville, Illinois, Dodd is the eighth SEMO player to secure OVC Pitcher of the Year honors. Joey Lucchesi, presently with the New York Mets, was the last Redhawk to win the award in 2016.
 
Dodd, who also secured First-Team All-OVC accolades, threw seven shutout innings in three of his last four starts. He leads the league in ERA (2.36), innings pitched (84), strikeouts (102) and wins (8), and ranks second in opposing batting average (.208). Dodd has struck out eight or more in 12 of his 13 starts, including a season-high 10 at both Arkansas (Feb. 25) and SIU Edwardsville (Mar. 12). Nationally, he ranks 18th in strikeout-to-walk ratio, 26th in wins and 28th in strikeouts.
 
At 8-1, Dodd won in each of his last five starts. His only loss of the season came at SIU Edwardsville (Mar. 12). Additionally, Dodd recently had a streak of 28-consecutive scoreless innings end against UT Martin (May 20). 
 
Wilber, who hails from Los Alamitos, California, earned All-OVC honors for the second time in his career. A semifinalist for the Brooks Wallace Award, Wilber won the league's regular-season batting title for the second time. He is hitting .400 through 46 starts at shortstop and leads the Redhawks in hits (72), doubles (11), RBI (45), slugging percentage (.583) and on-base percentage (.462). Wilber tops the OVC in hits and ranks third in on-base percentage. He is among the nation's top 25 in batting average (20th) and hits per game (21st, 1.6). In addition, he rates tied for first in the OVC with 21 mutiple-hit games and held a 15-game hitting streak -- second-longest in the OVC this season – from Mar. 30 to May 7.
 
Miller is 3-2 with a 3.92 ERA in 17 appearances and four starts as a freshman. A native of Eureka, Missouri, he ranks second on the team and seventh in the OVC with five saves and has the most strikeouts (39) and innings (39) among SEMO relief pitchers. Miller recorded a season-best seven strikeouts in his longest outing of the season, which lasted 6.1 innings (start at SIU Edwardsville, Mar. 13). He also added a six-out save with four strikeouts in his first NCAA Division I appearance at South Alabama (Feb. 19).
 
Despite being limited to seven appearances and four starts due to injury, Wilma managed to land a spot on the league's All-Freshman Team. He went 2-0 with 21 strikeouts and eight walks in 27.2 innings of work. Wilma matched a career-high six strikeouts in 4.2 innings at Murray State (Apr. 10) and had four strikeouts over 2.1 innings in a combined shutout at Belmont (May 1).  
 
Eastern Illinois shortstop Trey Sweeney (Player of the Year) and Morehead State first baseman (Freshman of the Year) rounded out this year's OVC specialty award-winners.

Top-seeded SEMO faces fourth-seeded Austin Peay in the first game of the OVC Tournament Thursday. First pitch is set for 2 p.m., CT at The Ballpark in Jackson, Tennessee. This year marks the first OVC Tournament appearance for Dodd, Wilber and Miller.

2021 All-OVC Teams and Award Winners
OVC Player of the Year: Trey Sweeney (SS), Eastern Illinois
OVC Pitcher of the Year: Dylan Dodd (LHP), Southeast Missouri
OVC Freshman of the Year: Jackson Feltner (1B), Morehead State
OVC Coach of the Year: Andy Sawyers, Southeast Missouri
 
ALL-OVC FIRST TEAM
C - Alex Webb, Jacksonville State
1B - Jackson Feltner, Morehead State
2B - Jordan Cozart, Murray State
SS - Trey Sweeney, Eastern Illinois
3B - Logan Jarvis, Belmont
OF - Garrett Spain, Austin Peay
OF - John Behrends, Belmont
OF - Cody Littlejohn, Tennessee Tech
DH - Caleb Upshaw, Eastern Kentucky
UT - Bobby Head, Austin Peay
SP - Dylan Dodd, Southeast Missouri
SP - Christian Edwards, Jacksonville State
SP - Winston Cannon, UT Martin
RP - Corley Woods, Jacksonville State
 
ALL-OVC SECOND TEAM
C - Ryan Knernschield, Eastern Illinois
1B - Golston Gillespie, Tennessee Tech
2B - Brett Roberts, Tennessee Tech
SS - Tyler Wilber, Southeast Missouri
3B - Bryson Bloomer, Murray State
OF - Brock Anderson, Murray State
OF - Jake Slunder, Murray State
OF - Brett Johnson, SIUE
DH - Brady Bunten, SIUE
UT - Alex Carignan, Jacksonville State
SP - Andy Bean, Belmont
SP - Sam Gardner, Murray State
SP - Cameron Doherty, Eastern Illinois
SP - Darren Williams, Eastern Kentucky
RP - David Hussey, UT Martin
RP - Will Brian, Eastern Kentucky
 
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
1B - Jackson Feltner, Morehead State
2B - Brett Roberts, Tennessee Tech
LHP - Andy Bean, Belmont
OF - Ryley Preece, Morehead State
LHP - Ty Fisher, Tennessee Tech
OF - Kendal Ewell, Eastern Kentucky
UT/RHP - Jacob Pennington, Murray State
RHP - Drew McIllwain, Austin Peay
RHP - Kyle Miller, Southeast Missouri
RHP - Luke Helton, Morehead State
RHP - Collin Wilma, Southeast Missouri
OF - Wil LaFollette, UT Martin
RHP - Noah Matheny, SIUE
RHP - Jack Wenninger, Murray State
 
***Note: There are 4 SP's and 2 RP's on the second-team and 14 All-Freshmen due to ties in voting.