Southeast Missouri State baseball loses series finale to EKU

~ Eastern Kentucky bounced back from a doubleheader loss with an 11-5 victory

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team will take an Ohio Valley Conference series win any weekend.

Southeast accomplished that but fell short of a sweep Sunday as Eastern Kentucky posted an 11-5 victory in Richmond, Ky.

The Redhawks already had clinched the series by taking both ends of Saturday's doubleheader, 7-6 and 13-6.

Southeast fell to 15-12 overall and 3-2 in OVC play after having its three-game winning streak snapped. EKU (8-20, 2-4) had lost 12 of its previous 13 contests.

"It's hard to sweep anywhere," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "Give Eastern Kentucky credit."

The Redhawks, after pounding 28 hits Saturday -- including seven home runs, four doubles and a triple -- had 11 hits Sunday, one a homer. They had two doubles.

Junior Jesse Tierney paced Southeast with three hits. Junior Kenton Parmley and senior Brett Russell both added two hits. One of Russell's hits was a home run.

EKU countered with three home runs among its 14 hits. The Colonels homered three times Saturday as strong winds were blowing out all weekend.

EKU senior Stephen Hefler allowed three runs and nine hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked two in improving to 3-3.

Southeast starter Brad LaBruyere allowed single runs in each of the first three innings before firing two straight scoreless frames.

LaBruyere (3-1), who was relieved after allowing a leadoff single in the sixth inning, suffered his first loss of the season. He was charged with four runs, three earned, on seven hits while striking out four and walking one.

"I thought Brad did a really good job. He allowed those runs in the first three innings but he settled it down for us," Hogan said.

The Redhawks, who never trailed Saturday and never led Sunday, had runners on first and third with nobody out in the opening inning but failed to score.

EKU took its first lead of the series in the bottom of the inning on a two-out solo home run by junior Jacob Daniel.

The Colonels made it 2-0 in the second inning and went ahead 3-0 in the third on a homer by junior Richie Rodriguez.

Southeast got on the board in the fourth on an RBI single by senior Tim Rupp.

Senior Blake Slattery's sixth-inning RBI single made it 3-2.

EKU answered in the bottom of the sixth with six two-out runs off three Southeast pitchers. The big blow was a three-run homer by Daniel, his second long ball of the day and team-high sixth of the season.

LaBruyere was charged with one of the sixth-inning runs, junior left-hander Ryan Prickett was tagged with three runs and senior Kirk Boeller allowed two runs.

Tierney's RBI double in the seventh cut the deficit to 9-3, but EKU made it 11-3 in the bottom of the frame, the runs charged to freshman lefty Christian Hull.

Russell's second home run of the season, in the eighth inning, made it 11-4.

Russell's ninth-inning RBI single ended the day's scoring.

The Redhawks used six pitchers, capped by sophomore Shae Simmons striking out the side in a scoreless eighth inning.

Southeast continues its nine-game stretch of road games Tuesday with a 6:30 p.m. nonconference matchup at Arkansas State.

The Redhawks resume league play this weekend with a three-game series at defending OVC regular-season champion Tennessee Tech.