FAB FIVE: INDIANS' QUINTET ACT ON MOUND SILENCES MEMPHIS

Southeast Missouri State University's much-maligned pitching depth received a major shot -- pardon the pun -- in the arm Thursday afternoon.

On a cold day at Capaha Field, Southeast's hurlers were extremely hot as five of them combined on a six-hit shutout during a 7-0 victory over Memphis.

The Indians improved to 8-7 entering this weekend's big three-game Ohio Valley Conference series at Tennessee Tech. Memphis fell to 5-5.

"This is great for our pitching staff," said Southeast coach Mark Hogan. "To have five pitchers throw a shutout in these conditions is really great."

Southeast's record so far has been built mainly through the sturdy arms of top two starters Jason Swearingen and Ryan Spille, who are both 3-0 and have impressive earned-run averages of 3.13 and 1.00, respectively.

The rest of the Southeast pitching staff was a combined 1-7 prior to Thursday's game and most of the ERA's were fairly inflated.

"We've leaned so heavily on Swearingen and Spille and they have done an outstanding job," said Hogan. "But it's obvious that we've got other guys starting to come around. Today should really be a big boost for our entire staff."

Tim Larsen, a junior-college transfer who had thrown just four innings prior to Thursday, got a win in his first decision. Larsen, after allowing three hits in the first inning, gave up just one hit over the next three innings before being removed. He struck out six and walked one.

"What can you say about his stuff. It was outstanding," Hogan said. "And he could have gone longer but we were looking toward the weekend."

Another juco transfer, Allan Landgren, followed with two innings of one-hit ball.

Then Jerry Wolsey, Lanson DeBrock and freshman Nathan McGuire each pitched one inning of combined one-hit ball. Wolsey fanned two.

"Everybody we brought out there did a good job," said Hogan.

Southeast had nine hits off five Memphis hurlers, with Kyle Yount and Jeff Bourbon doing the bulk of the damage.

Yount went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs as he increased his team-leading batting average to .414.

Bourbon, a redshirt freshman, went 3-for-3 with a home run and a double as he drove in two runs and increased his average to .382.

"For a freshman, Bourbon is just doing tremendous, but this is what we thought he could do," said Hogan. "It was tough not to play him last year. He's a talented player."

The Indians scored the only run they would need in the first inning as Jeremy Johnson walked and later came around on Darin Kinsolving's sacrifice fly.

Yount's two-run double in the fifth made it 3-0.

Southeast put the game out of reach in the seventh on Robert Kern's RBI single and Bourbon's two-run homer.

Charlie Marino's RBI double in the eighth rounded out the scoring.

The Indians continued their strong defense as they played error-free ball for the seventh time this season. All told, Southeast has just 18 errors in 15 games and six of those errors came in one contest.

"It was a great effort overall. We battled the elements well," Hogan said. "Weather hasn't been a problem for the most part. We've had great weather, but it wasn't real good today."

Now the Indians will turn their attention toward this weekend's big OVC series at Tennessee Tech. The teams will play a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday and a 2 p.m. single game Sunday.

Defending league champion Tech is off to a 3-0 OVC start while Southeast is among three teams tied for second at 2-1.

"It should be a great series and we're looking forward to it," said Hogan.