2024 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship
 
Game Information
Date: Thursday, May 23, 2024
Time: 3 p.m., CT. 
Opponent: #7 SIUE, #6 Eastern Illinois, or #3 Morehead State
Location: Marion, Ill. 
Venue: Mtn. Dew Park
 
Tournament Information
Dates: Wednesday, May 22 – Saturday, May 25
Teams: #8 UT Martin, #7 SIUE, #6 Eastern Illinois, #5 Tennessee Tech, #4 Southern Indiana, #3 Morehead State, #2 Southeast Missouri, #1 Little Rock
Bracket: OVCSports.com
Tournament Central: OVCsports.com
 
Follow the Redhawks:
X: @SEMOBaseball
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Watch: ESPN+ (Graham Doty & Conor Clingen)
Listen: SEMO ESPN 93.5 FM or 1220 AM (Erik Sean)
Tickets: Mtn. Dew Park
 
Southeast Missouri OVC Tournament Notes (PDF)
 
#2 Redhawks Begin 2024 OVC Tournament Thursday
#2 Southeast Missouri Baseball (31-24, 18-9) will begin postseason play on Thursday, May 23, at 3 p.m. from Mtn. Dew Park in Marion, Ill. in the 2024 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship presented by SERVPRO. 
 
Who We Face
The Redhawks, who earned the double bye in the tournament, will await the outcome of Wednesday. #6 Eastern Illinois & #7 SIUE will play each other at 12 p.m. on Wednesday for the right to play #3 Morehead State at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night. The winner of that game will face the Redhawks on Thursday, May 23, with first pitch slated for 3 p.m.
 
Regular Season Recap
#2 SEMO Baseball wrapped up the 2024 regular season on a five-game winning streak including taking two-of-three from Western Illinois and ending the season on a three-game sweep of UT Martin. The Redhawks finished the regular season with a 31-24 overall record and an 18-9 mark in OVC play. Five Redhawks earned All-OVC marks in outfielder Josh Cameron, RHP Kyle Miller, utility Ty Stauss, short stop Ben Palmer, and second baseman Brooks Kettering. SEMO was 16-12 in the friendly confines of Capaha Field and away from Cape Girardeau, the Redhawks were 15-12. The Redhawks finished the regular season with a 9-1 record in the month of May (8-1 OVC) by far their best month of the season. SEMO swept three series in conference play, sweeping Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, and UT Martin. In conference play, the Redhawks picked up series victories over SIUE and Southern Indiana winning both series, 2-1. SEMO Baseball dominated the state of Missouri this year, only losing one game to opponents in the state. The Redhawks took all three from Lindenwood, split with Missouri State (1-1), and defeated Missouri in Columbia, Mo. on Feb. 27 to finish the year 5-1 against the Show-Me State. The Redhawks dropped OVC series on the road to Little Rock and Tennessee Tech, and at home to Morehead State. 
 
Tournament Time
The Redhawks locked up the #2 seed in the 2024 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament and will look for their sixth OVC Tournament title and the third under head coach Andy Sawyers. SEMO is 48-49 all-time in the conference tournament. A season ago, the Redhawks fell out of the first day of the tournament in a heartbreaking, 7-6, loss to Eastern Illinois who would go on to win the tournament. 
 
Even Years
SEMO has won five OVC Tournament titles and all but one have come in an even year on the calendar. The only title to come in an odd year was the 2021 tournament title, under head coach Andy Sawyers. The Redhawks have won the title in 1998, 2002, 2016, 2021, and 2022. 
 
2 Seed
SEMO enters the tournament as a two seed and has an 8-9 overall record as the second seed in the program's history. The Redhawks were last a two seed in the 2022 Tournament, going on to defeat Belmont in the championship game (5-4) in extra innings (10).  
 
Sawyers Tournament Resume
Head Coach Andy Sawyers, in his eighth season at the helm of SEMO Baseball, will take part in his sixth tournament as the boss. Coach Sawyers holds an 8-7 record all-time in the tournament, but is just 0-1 in Marion, Ill. 
 
Top Defense
The Redhawks conclude the regular season with the OVC's top defense. SEMO finished one point above Morehead State (.971) with a .972 team-fielding percentage. First baseman Bryce Cannon finished conference play with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage to lead the squad. Nine Redhawks, who finished above the minimum number of games, recorded a fielding percentage of .970 or higher. 
 
Batting Champion
Outfielder Ty Stauss finished the season as the Redhawks top hitter with a .324 batting average. Stauss finished with 61 hits and led the team in doubles (16) and on-base percentage (.434). 
 
Hits
Center fielder Michael Mugan, who played in 54-of-55 games for the Redhawks, finished the season with a team-best 73 hits. The junior was second on the team with a .322 batting average and third on the team in RBIs (47). 
 
Unusual
Short stop Ben Palmer finished the season as the team leader in two contradictory categories. The senior from Fridley, Minn. led the Redhawks in both home runs (16) and sacrifice bunts (14). He also was the team leader in walks (37) and hit-by-pitches (11). 
 
The Staff
The Redhawks pitching staff finished the 2024 campaign strong, especially the final month of the season. As a group, SEMO finished with a 5.65 ERA over 477.2 innings. LP Haden Dow led the staff with 57 total strikeouts with a 4-1 record. Dow finished with a 4.54 ERA over 73.1 innings pitched. Opponents hit just .261 against the lefty in 2024. LHP Logan Katen and RHP Kyle Miller played a huge role in the back half of games. Katen finished with a 3.60 ERA over 30.0 innings, striking out 32 hitters. For Miller, he recorded 29 strikeouts over 24.0 innings, missing an entire month of the season, as opponents hit just .195 against him. 
 
#7 SIUE
In the regular season, the Redhawks took two-of-three from the Cougars in Cape Girardeau and were one bad inning from sweeping the visitors in a 13-9 heartbreaking loss in the second game of the series. SEMO outscored the Cougars 37-16 in the three-game set. SEMO and SIUE have only met one time in the tournament, with the Redhawks holding a 1-0 advantage. 
 
#6 Eastern Illinois
The Redhawks were all over EIU in the regular season, sweeping all three games against the Panthers in Charleston, Ill. in the first OVC series of the campaign. SEMO exploded for 56 runs in the series, outscoring the home team 56-21. Designated hitter Cole Warehime was voted as the Co-OVC Player of the Week following the series after he hit two grand slams in the second game of the series with EIU. In the tournament, EIU holds a 6-4 advantage in the matchup including last year's 7-6 defeat of SEMO in the Redhawks' first game of the tournament. 
 
#3 Morehead State
The Eagles came to Cape Girardeau in 2024 and took two-out-of-three from the Redhawks after SEMO jumped out to a 13-11 victory in game one. Timely hitting for MSU allowed them to cruise to a game two victory and they sealed the deal in game three with an 11-8 getaway day victory. In the tournament, MSU holds a 5-4 advantage over SEMO but the two have not faced each other since 2018 in a tournament setting.