May 18, 2006

Golden Eagles need to win two at SEMO to advance to tournament

The Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament, scheduled for next week in Paducah, Ky., is a double-elimination event with the champion receiving the league's automatic invitation to the NCAA Tournament.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament, scheduled for next week in Paducah, Ky., is a double-elimination event with the champion receiving the league's automatic invitation to the NCAA Tournament.

For Tennessee Tech's Golden Eagles, why wait?

In order for Tech to make the six-team field next week, coach Matt Bragga's Golden Eagles can use the same 'double-elimination' mindset when they wrap up the regular season the weekend with a three-game series at Southeast Missouri.

Tech and SEMO play a doubleheader Friday and a single game Saturday in Cape Girardeau.

Tech (17-34 overall) is currently in sixth place with a 10-14 record in the OVC. The Golden Eagles own a one-game lead on SEMO and are two ahead of Morehead STate, UT Martin and Murray State.

That makes the mission extremely simple -- win at least two games to clinch the sixth spot in the tournament. In fact, if the Golden Eagles can sweep all three games, and Austin Peay (13-11 OVC) drops all three games at Eastern Kentucky (14-9 OVC), Tech can claim fifth place and the No. 5 seed in the tournament.

If Tech loses twice, however, the season is over -- double-elimiiation.

Junior Jake New leads Tech at the plate with a .308 batting average and his current nine-game hitting streak is the third-longest in the league heading into the weekend. Senior Kyle Rowekamp is also hitting above the .300 mark, bringing a .303 average into the SEMO series.

Junior Steve Soper leads Tech with eight home runs, ranking sixth in the conference. He is also eighth in total bases with 93. Tech also has individuals ranked in doubles (Stuart Meinhart is 10th with 12) and in triples (Josh Goodwin is fourth with four).

Junior Zac Cole heads up the Golden Eagle pitching staff with a 3.75 earned run average. Junior Matt Smith has the most wins (3) on the squad, while junior Justin Fields has the most strikeouts (42).