INDIANS GET TWO SHOTS AT CROWN

For the second straight day, Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team had to reach down deep to win.

But this is tournament play, so the Indians wouldn't expect things to be easy.

The bottom line is that Southeast is now just one victory away from capturing the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship.

Second-seeded Southeast held off fifth-seeded Eastern Kentucky 12-8 Friday in the winner's bracket final played in front of nearly 550 fans at Capaha Field.

Southeast, which had rallied past Morehead State 10-9 late Thursday night, is now the only undefeated team left in the double-elimination event.

The Indians will play in todays championship game against top-seeded Eastern Illinois, which has emerged from the losers bracket after dropping its first tourney contest.

Eastern Illinois (37-15) destroyed Eastern Kentucky 26-10 in Friday's late loser's bracket final. Earlier in the day, the Panthers eliminated Morehead State 10-8 in 11 innings.

Today's contest will begin at 1 p.m. after having been moved up two hours from its original starting time. If Eastern Illinois wins, a second game to determine the championship would follow. If the Indians win, they capture the title."It's the nature of the beast," said a smiling Southeast coach Mark Hogan when asked about the two extremely difficult games the Indians have had so far. "In a tournament, you expect things to be like this."Southeast (29-22) won despite having ace pitcher Ryan Spille allow the most hits and runs he has given up all season.

EKU (24-29-1) touched Spille for eight runs (six earned) and 13 hits.

But Spille, the OVC Pitcher of the Year, was plenty tough down the stretch. After the Colonels rallied from an 8-2 deficit to force an 8-8 tie. Spille blanked them over the final four innings as he improved his record to 10-1. The left-hander struck out seven and walked five over the nine-inning distance."They (EKU) hit the ball well and they hit all pitches well," said Spille, who added with a grin, "I didn't expect it to be easy, but I didn't expect it to be quite like this either."Southeast had 14 hits, including three more from Jeremy Johnson, who is now 6-for-11 in two tournament games.

Phil Warren also had a big game with three hits, making him 5-for-9 in the tourney.

Steve Lowe added two hits, giving him four in the tournament, while Jeff Bourbon and Robert Kern both also had two hits.

Bourbon drove in four runs while Warren and Darin Kinsolving both had two RBIs. Kern belted his 15th home run of the season.

EKU's Sean Murray homered for the third straight game in the tournament while Jeff Wellman had three hits.

Jason Estep suffered the loss despite four strong relief innings that kept the Colonels in the game after they fell behind big early.

Southeast rocked starter Keith Jones for 10 hits and eight runs over the first three innings as the Indians built up an 8-2 lead.

But a five-run EKU fifth tied things at 8-8 and gave the underdog Colonels plenty of momentum.

Then Spille asserted himself again and the Indians took control for good. They broke the deadlock in the top of the seventh (they were the official visiting team on the scoreboard) on Warren's RBI single.

In the eighth, Kern ripped his homer to the opposite field in left to put Southeast ahead 10-8. The Indians then added two unearned insurance runs in the ninth."It was a tough game, but we knew it would be because every team in this tournament was pretty well even," said Kinsolving. "It feels good to be in the championship."It certainly feels good for Hogan, who has Southeast in the OVC Tournament title contest for the third time in four years. But the last two times the Indians got this far, they were undefeated in the tourney but lost both games on the final day to fall short."It's thrilling to get back (to the championship game) because it's so hard to do it," Hogan said. "I sure hope the outcome is different this time than the two other times."But Hogan knows it won't be easy to lock up the title today, even though the Indians appear to have the upper hand since they need just one more win while Eastern Illinois will need to win twice."Eastern Illinois has a heck of a ballclub. They proved it during the regular season and they've proved it by coming back in this tournament," he said. "This thing is by no means over."