When the Southeast Missouri State baseball team's junior shortstop Branden Boggetto finished his sophomore season, his offensive production left much to be desired. In the 40 games in which he played last season, he hit .232 with three home runs and 18 RBIs.

Boggetto, an excellent defender, has been given increased playing time, and his improvement over the summer has given him a better state of mind going into games this season.

"Honestly, I just feel more confident at the plate," Boggetto said. "I try to hit the ball hard and do good things for my team."

Boggetto is tied for a team-high eight home runs with 38 RBIs and a .295 batting average this season.

Being one of the leaders in home runs for Southeast is not a big deal for him, Boggetto is just trying to put the Redhawks in a position to win.

"I really don't think about hitting home runs," Boggetto said. "When I see a pitch I can hit, I want to put a good swing on it and if it goes over the fence, that's great."

He did more than put a good swing on a pitch when he hit a walk-off homerun against Jacksonville State on April 17.

"In that at-bat I was just trying to get on base and get into scoring position and let the guys behind me drive me in," Boggetto said. "But I just saw a ball I could drive and it went out. It was a great feeling."

Boggetto's improvement has not gone unnoticed. Southeast coach Steve Bieser saw how hard he was working and said the improvement is due to an improved approach at the plate and another year of seasoning.

"Some of it is another year to develop and he knew what he had to work on going into the summer," Bieser said. "But the main thing is the fact that he has more consistency because he had been splitting time at that position the last couple years and now he has the knowledge that his name will be in the lineup every day and that has eased him. Instead of waiting on a perfect pitch when he sees one he can handle, he takes care of business right there instead of waiting on the next one."

Bieser said Boggetto has more knowledge of what his strengths are at the plate and how opposing pitchers are going to attack him on a daily basis and that Boggetto has started to take advantage.

"He's a great fastball hitter and what he has really worked on is his mindset on the off-speed and breaking pitches," Bieser said. "He has really become a complete hitter in how he attacks both of those kinds of pitches and he really has an education on how teams will work him and gets into really favorable counts."

Bieser likes the fact that he has some power out of the middle infield position because it can give his lineup flexibility and the opponent doesn't have an easy out at any point.

"That's a luxury when you have a shortstop that has power because when you think shortstop you think defense," Bieser said. "But when you have solid defenders that can also hit, it makes the team strong down the lineup."

Boggetto will be a senior next season and Bieser sees him as someone that the team will look at to lead.

"He will definitely be a leader and he leads by example, he's not a real vocal guy," Bieser said. "Hopefully as a senior next year he can be more vocal. But he does the right things all the time and that shows leadership qualities as well."