Indians move over .500 with sweep of Tennessee-Martin

MARTIN, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State University took full advantage of the Ohio Valley Conference's last-place team Friday afternoon.

The Indians banged out 31 hits -- 13 for extra bases, including four home runs -- and rolled to a doubleheader sweep, 9-2 in the nine-inning opener and 12-4 in the seven-inning nightcap.

Southeast (26-25, 15-10) and UTM (15-38, 6-20) will close out the three-game series and their regular seasons at 1 p.m. today. The Indians, who moved up to third place among 10 OVC squads, will compete in next week's six-team league tournament while the Skyhawks had long been eliminated from tourney contention.

The Indians were eliminated from a shot at finishing second in the regular-season standings by Eastern Illinois' sweep Friday.

But more important to coach Mark Hogan Friday was that the Indians continued playing well. They have won eight of their last 10 games, with one of those defeats being Wednesday's 12-11, 13-inning non-league loss at Missouri.

Freddy Lopez went 5-for-7 with two doubles Saturday; Gary Gilbert also went 5-for-8 with his third home run of the season and three runs batted in; and Eric Horstman was 5-for-10 with a double and his team-leading fifth triple of the year. Horstman's five triples are tied for the fourth-highest single-season total in school history.

Frankie Montiel was 4-for-10 and got his 20th double of the season, which ties him for second place on the school's single-season list. Montiel, who also hit his third homer, entered the week ranked seventh nationally in doubles per game.

Bo Jenkins also went 4-for-10, belted his sixth homer and doubled twice, good for four RBIs.

Eric Hoffman added three hits and three RBIs while Ernie Bracamonte got his sixth homer and tacked on three RBIs.

Southeast had so much fun that late in the second game, pitcher Mike Fitch -- today's scheduled starter -- was sent to the plate for his first at-bat of the season and belted an RBI triple.

The Indians' pitching was also solid, limiting the Skyhawks to a total of 17 hits.

Anthony Maupin (7-6) went all nine innings in the opener and got his team-high sixth complete game of the season. The Indians' leading winner scattered nine hits while striking out three and walking four.

Derek Herbig (4-4) was the second-game winner. Despite being bothered by recent arm soreness, Herbig worked five innings, allowing seven hits and four runs, with seven strikeouts and three walks. Freshman Matt Carter finished up with two scoreless innings, allowing one hit.