Indians sweep first day of final OVC weekend

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State University beat Morehead State at its own game, belting five home runs in its sweep of an Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader Saturday.

The Indians -- who end the regular season at noon today at Morehead --hit three homers in the 9-3 opener and two more in a 9-2 win in the second game, including a grand slam by Eric Hoffman.

Southeast, the regular-season OVC champion, has won 15 of its last 17 and improved to 32-16 overall, 16-4 in the OVC. Morehead, in a battle for the sixth spot for this week's OVC Tournament, fell to 28-25 and 8-11.

Morehead State entered the game with an OVC-leading 120 home runs, but added just two to the total against four Indian pitchers.

Southeast starter Donnie Fuller (2-1) picked up the victory in the opener with relief help from Andy Davidson.

Trailing 2-1 in the opener, Southeast struck for seven runs in the fourth inning to chase Morehead starter Casey Campbell (3-5). The Indians used one-out back-to-back home runs by Vern Hatton and Tristen McDonald to grab a 3-2 lead. Southeast then added six singles as it broke loose for eight hits in the inning, taking an 8-2 lead.

David Lawson added a solo home run in the fifth, his first of the season, for a 9-2 advantage.

Denver Stuckey went 3-for-4 and Clemente Bonilla, Hatton and Lawson each went 2-for-4 in Southeast's 13-hit attack.

In the second game, Southeast again utilized a big fourth inning to break the game open. Leading 1-0, Southeast broke loose for five runs, the big blast being Hoffman's one-out grand slam off Augie Cabral (1-3) that upped the lead to 6-0.

Morehead countered with two runs off Brandon Smith (10-2) in the bottom of the inning, but the Indians added two runs in the sixth and a leadoff home run by Hatton in the seventh.

Tim Alvarez pitched two innings of one-hit relief for Southeast.

Hopkins, Hatton and David Lawson each had two hits for the Indians, who had 11 overall.

The Indians played error-free defense in the sweep and turned five double plays.