Semoball

What 2 Watch 4: SEMO baseball ready to go (for a full and healthy season)

Southeast Missouri State University pitcher Dylan Dodd (25) throws during a game against Northern Illinois last season at Capaha Field.
Southeast Missourian file

Leading the Southeast Missouri State baseball program has been a challenge for fifth-year coach Andy Sawyers over the past two seasons.

The Redhawks were besieged with an inordinate amount of injuries in 2019.

Last spring, SEMO was hitting its stride and won 8 of 11 games during a stretch before the sporting world was shut down due to the COVID pandemic.

So you couldn’t blame Sawyers for being a bit cautious as the Redhawks enter the 2021 season, but he is “excited” to get on the field and (hopefully) play a full season.

“I probably feel like everybody does,” Sawyers said Friday. “Everybody is going to like their team right now. Everybody is older than they have been in the past with the return of those COVID “super seniors.”

“I think when you return guys with a lot of Division I experience and a lot of at-bats, you have to feel good about that.”

SEMO will open the season Friday at Capaha Park when it hosts Milwaukee at 3 p.m.

It will be a four-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday (noon and 3 p.m.) and a Sunday game (1 p.m.).

SEMO was recently picked fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll and Sawyers returns 14 players that saw significant action in 2020 (relatively speaking due to the shortened season).

Here are five key Redhawks to watch this spring.

Dylan Dodd, senior, left-handed pitcher

Dodd was one of four Redhawks offered contracts from minor league teams last summer, and also one of the three that chose to return.

He was overpowering with 36 strikeouts in 26 2/3 innings of work but Sawyers said he is better today than he ever was last year.

“His breaking ball has been below average since he got here,” Sawyers said bluntly, “but I’m excited about that.”

Sawyers is excited because Dodd can actually throw it now and throw it for strikes.

“He was 88-90 (m.p.h.) as a junior college guy with no breaking ball whatsoever,” Sawyers continued on his truth talk. “He was 88-90 with a change-up.

“You’ve seen the accumulation of hard work by a good kid.”

Tyler Wilbur, junior, shortstop

Wilbur and Dodd were both preseason All-OVC selections and he too, turned down money to play baseball last summer.

Wilbur put up impressive offensive numbers last spring.

He can make contact (28 hits, just one off the team lead), but he also has some “pop.”

Wilbur hit three home runs and far-and-away led the Redhawks with nine doubles.

His .494 on-base percentage led SEMO.

Andrew Keck, sophomore, athlete

Sawyers said his catching rotation includes “(Wade) Stauss is 1A and Andrew Keck is 1B.”

Keck took over catching duties when Stauss was out with “concussion issues” earlier in his career and he proved too valuable to take out of the lineup once Stauss returned.

“Andrew is an elite level athlete,” Sawyers said.

Keck was 7-for-9 in stolen base attempts and he can take that speed to multiple positions on the field, according to Sawyers.

“He can play left,” Sawyers said, “He can play right. He can (be the designated hitter).”

The point being, Sawyers said, both Stauss and Keck will be “in the lineup every day.”

Collin Wilma, freshman, right-handed pitcher

As a true freshman last spring, Wilma made a smooth adjustment to the college game for the most part.

He was third on the Redhawks in innings worked (18 1/3) and struck out 19 hitters.

“He was going really good for us last year as a true freshman,” Sawyers said.

Wilma is injured right now, but Sawyers expects him back for the latter part of this season and will fill a starter’s role.

Kyle Miller, freshman, right-handed pitcher

The Eureka native has shown some moxie in early scrimmages against the SEMO vets and Sawyers called his play “fantastic.”

“If we played today,” Sawyers said, “I might close him as a true freshman.”

At 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, Miller has some size for a young guy and in fall scrimmages, he “threw five consecutive scoreless outings after his first game,” Sawyers said.

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