SIU Edwardsville skewers Southeast Missouri State baseball team

Southeast Missouri State baseball players and coaches learned late Friday that they secured their league-record 18th straight Ohio Valley Conference tournament berth.

That became official when Tennessee Tech lost to Austin Peay several hours after the Redhawks had beaten SIU Edwardsville.

"It was definitely a relief. It was good to know," senior first baseman Kody Campbell said.

Those results took the pressure off the Redhawks entering their final regular-season game, Saturday's senior day matchup against SIUE at Capaha Field.

The Cougars then took out their frustrations for being pounded in the first two games of the series by crushing Southeast 24-7.

Southeast Missouri State starting pitcher Zack Smith talks to catcher Shane Blair during the first inning Saturday at Capaha Field. (Fred Lynch)

"Even though we knew we were in the tournament, when we came to the park, we were playing to win," Campbell said. "They just had a great game. All credit to them. They put it to us."

The Redhawks could take solace in the fact their season will continue beyond Saturday, which looked to be in serious jeopardy when they were last in the 10-team OVC after a month of the conference schedule.

Southeast bounced back to win four of its last five OVC series after losing its first four conference sets. The Redhawks went 9-6 in their last 15 OVC contests after starting league play 3-9.

"It's thrilling to go back to the tournament," 18th-year Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "In the bigger picture, when we were 3-9 and in last place ... it's unreal. We didn't back into it. We had some huge wins the last few weeks."

The Redhawks (21-34, 12-15) wound up seventh in the OVC, their lowest finish under Hogan, which normally would keep them out of the six-team conference tournament.

Southeast Missouri State's Andy Lennington doubles in three runs against SIU Edwardsville during the fourth inning Saturday at Capaha Field. (Fred Lynch)

But Southeast wound up sixth for tournament purposes because first-year OVC member SIUE (27-28, 13-14) is not eligible for the event this season during its final year of the Division I reclassification process. The Cougars tied for fifth place.

Sixth-seeded Southeast will open the double-elimination tournament in Jackson, Tenn., against third-seeded Jacksonville State at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

"I think we can make a run at it," senior shortstop Kenton Parmley said. "We've been playing pretty well until today. We have to clear this game out of our heads. We've got bigger things to worry about.

"We came out stress-free today knowing we were in the tournament. But they hit the ball hard all day."

SIUE, which was outscored by a combined 20-8 in the opening two games of the series, grabbed its first lead of the set Saturday and built an 8-0 bulge after three innings.

Joel Greatting and Zach Hawkins both hammered two-run homers to highlight the Cougars' four-run first inning against junior college transfer left-hander Zack Smith.

Brett Keeler's three-RBI double sparked SIUE's four-run third inning that made it 8-0.

"They jumped on us right away," Campbell said.

Southeast cut the deficit to 8-6 with a six-run fourth inning. Redshirt freshman right fielder Andy Lennington had the big blow, a three-RBI double.

Keeler's two-run homer in the fifth inning built SIUE's lead back to 10-6.

It was 10-7 when the Cougars broke things wide open by scoring five runs in the seventh inning and seven in the eighth. They added two in the ninth.

"We haven't had a game like this for a long time," Hogan said. "It was disappointing."

Smith (2-7) lasted just 2 1/3 innings. He allowed seven runs, six earned, and six hits.

Hogan, who did not want to extend any of his key relievers with the OVC tournament just days away, used seven more pitchers. Only sophomore left-hander Christian Hull emerged unscathed. He threw a scoreless inning.

"We just pitched lousy and they had a big day," Hogan said.

SIUE pounded out 24 hits, including nine doubles and three homers.

Keeler, a senior catcher, had a career day with eight RBIs. He went 4 for 5 with a home run and two doubles.

"They pounded the ball. It wasn't cheap," said Hogan, who had six seniors play their final home game Saturday.

Southeast had only five hits. In addition to Lennington's three RBIs, juco transfer catcher Shane Blair drove in two runs.

All-American senior third baseman Trenton Moses went 0 for 2 to end his hitting streak at 22 games.

Moses walked and was hit by a pitch to extend his school-record streak of reaching base safely to 75 contests. Neither the OVC nor NCAA keeps a record for that category.

Moses fell just short of becoming the first OVC player in 30 years to win the league's Triple Crown. He leads in batting average (.426) and home runs (19) but wound up second in RBIs (59), missing out by one.

Sophomore left fielder Derek Gibson, Southeast's third-leading hitter with a .333 average, missed the Friday and Saturday games because of a bout with the flu.