The Southeast Missouri State University baseball team is entering this year with a "target" on its back as the reigning regular-season Ohio Valley Conference champions.

The Redhawks were 23-7 in conference play last season and 37-20 overall under third-year coach Steve Bieser, who was named OVC Coach of the Year.

"Well I think it's always exciting and refreshing when you come back and you've had some success from the year before," Bieser said. "We do have a lot of new faces here, and that's something that you're going to have those type of turnovers each year. I think from a standpoint of we feel pretty good that we've got a lot of experience coming back on the mound and we've got a few big bats to replace there in the lineup. But I feel like the guys have done a good job up to this point of the year getting ready, and I think we're going to be able to replace those guys on the offensive side, too."

Southeast was led offensively by outfielder Derek Gibson and first baseman Matt Tellor, who combined for a total of 21 home runs and 141 RBIs last season. Tellor was drafted in the 10th round of the MLB draft by the Atlanta Braves and Gibson later signed a minor league contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Bieser said that the biggest question for this year's team is if they will have much power throughout the lineup.

"If we don't, we've got to have a way to manufacture runs, and I think that's what this club is going to be very good at is being able to produce runs, being able to string multiple hits together and being able to run the bases really well," Bieser said. "I think we'll be an exciting team to watch running the bases, and I think we'll play really solid defense."

One of the players returning to the lineup this season will be senior infielder Andy Lennington who batted .312 last year and was third on the team in hits (72) and RBIs (45) behind Gibson and Tellor.

Lennington was named on the third-team 2015 Louisville Slugger Preseason All-American squad.

"He's kind of the anchor of that lineup from last year," Bieser said. "He hit above .300 and he had 18 doubles, a lot of our power, I talk power this year and we're probably talking about doubles is what we're really looking for."

With Lennington's 18 doubles from last season, he tied with Tellor for the most on the team, but led the Redhawks in triples with five.

Bieser added that with senior infielder Jason Blum remaining first in the lineup from last year, Lennington will be somewhere right in the middle in the two, three, four or five slot.

"Batting average is kind of based off of the guys around you," Lennington said. "With the guys we had last year, Tellor and Gibson, I kind of got some more pitches to hit so obviously I had some better opportunities. But we've got a lot of guys coming back and some new guys who can really swing the bat. ... We may not hit as many [homeruns] as we did last year, but we might be a more doubles and triples team, which in the scheme of things keeps rallies better."

Joining Lennington in the middle of the lineup will be senior outfielder Dalton Hewitt, who also hit above .300 last season and scored 40 runs for Southeast last season.

"He'll [Lennington] be driving in runs and Dalton Hewitt is returning who's been very solid for us for the last couple of years," Bieser said. "He's been putting up good numbers, and we expect him to hit somewhere right in the middle part of that lineup. So we feel like we've got some pieces right there that can really do some damage offensively."

Southeast ranked 10th in the nation last season with 97 stolen bases, and Bieser expects for his team to steal more than 100 this season.

"There's advantages we can take if we're really a heads-up base running team -- being able to go from first to third on a ground ball into the outfield and being able to advance on a ball in the dirt that a pitcher may throw," Bieser said. "We've really focused on trying to be that team that's really tough to defend and that's really what we're going to see from this club is just being exciting on the bases, not running into outs, really making heads up reads and really running the bases really well."

Blum led the Redhawks in stolen bases with 23 on 25 attempts and also tied Tellor for the team-high in runs with 60 on the year.

Returning on the mound this season for Southeast will be senior pitcher Travis Hayes, who was named OVC Co-Pitcher of the Year last year along with Murray State senior pitcher Brock Downey earning.

Hayes went 8-2 last season with a 3.23 ERA and was second on the team in strikeouts with 61 behind returning junior pitcher Alex Winkelman, who recorded 62.

"Everybody gets feedback from each other," Hayes said. "I think that's one of the biggest things that I personally benefit from is having people like Alex Winkelman, he's my catch partner, just all of the other pitchers in general. ... Sometimes all it takes is somebody saying just tweak something a little bit that they can see because they're looking from the outside. Sometimes that's the biggest difference between getting out of an inning or having an inning where they put up three to four runs."

Hayes and Winkelman both attended Crystal City high school in Crystal City, Missouri, where they were named first-team all-state and won a state championship in 2010.

Hayes said it will be more difficult this season because teams will be more focused when they play Southeast.

"But I mean, last year was last year," Hayes said. "Nobody is going to come into this year and say, "Well, it's the OVC Pitcher of the Year," it's just going to be another guy that they're facing. We're going to be facing new teams and the biggest thing was that it was awesome last year, we had a few guys that won awards, which was great. But at the same time that was last year, and I'm just looking forward to doing as much as I can to help us this year."

Hayes said that he does not think that anybody on the team is intimidated by having a target on their back and that expectations are to win the OVC regular-season championship again and the conference tournament to advance to the NCAA tournament, which the Redhawks failed to do last year.

"There is a little bit of a target on our back," Bieser said. "It's different for a player that's been here playing under those circumstances as opposed to somebody that you're sneaking up on somebody where we weren't predicted to do anything last year and we kind of went in and played well and won games. Now the targets on our back and we've got to make sure that we can rise to the occasion and play outstanding baseball. We are the champions, we're the defending champions, and people are going to look to kind of make sure that they can come in our place or we go into their place, they want to make a statement by beating us."

Southeast will start its season against Bowling Green at home on Feb. 13 at 3 p.m. to start a four-game series.

"We've got a good team here," Lennington said. "We're pretty close, camaraderie is good, so I'm excited to get on the road, play some road games, excited to play in front of the fans here at Capaha. So hopefully we will give them a good show."